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Tight margins for Iowa pig farmer

Feed costs are down but so is the market for northeast Iowa pork producer Bob Hemesath.

“Soybean meal is down well over probably one hundred-some dollars from its high (or maybe) more than that, so that helps. But the futures market and the hog market has been pretty dismal here.”

He tells Brownfield pork demand seems off and attributes much of that to a lack of trade activity.

“China has come back in there the last month or so and bought some pork, but export numbers are not where we’d like to see them.”

Hemesath and his brother have a wean to finish hog operation and grow corn near Calmar.