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Missouri pork producers say TPP needed

Two Midwest pork producers say they are dealing with the varying degrees of price pressure in the industry with their eyes on passage of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal. Bob North is past chairman of the Missouri Pork Producers Association and is a contract grower with JBS in southwest Missouri. He raises 4-thousand sows in three locations, “With us, on a contract, we get paid so much per pig. Other folks that are paid on the profit and loss on those animals, they’re suffering. It’s just a – it’s a money losing deal right now.”

Interview with Bob North:

Francis Forst is independent – and runs a farrow-to-finish operation in southwest Missouri with a group of producers. He tells Brownfield Ag News, he’s working to manage his risk, “It’s kind of like my dad told me one time, he said, ‘Well, even an ant is smart enough to harbor things when things are good.’ And, you pull on that when things get tough. So, when the market’s good and you build your equity and the times, like today, you draw from that equity.” Forst is vice chair of the Missouri Pork Association board. He and North tell Brownfield they see light at the end of the tunnel –  if TPP is passed by Congress, which they say will greatly increase export markets. And, North says, they will need to be able to SELL their pork after it’s processed once new facilities come online.

Interview with Francis Forst:

 

Brownfield interviews took place at the Missouri Department of Agriculture in Jefferson City for the Missouri October Pork Month proclamation.