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2024 Swine Profitability Conference February 6 • Stanley Stout Center, Manhattan, KS

2024 Swine Profitability Conference February 6 • Stanley Stout Center, Manhattan, KS

By

 Jim Eadie

 -

January 11, 2024

Kansas State University’s 2024 Swine Profitability Conference is planned for Tuesday, Feb. 6 in Manhattan.

The annual Swine Profitability Conference focuses on providing information to improve knowledge for pork producer business decisions. “We host two major swine events each year at K-State. At Swine Day, we share our latest research results. At Swine Profitability Conference, we focus on business decisions and industry-wide issues facing pork producers,” says Mike Tokach, K-State Department of Animal Sciences & Industry distinguished professor and swine extension specialist. “The lineup of speakers this year bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to help producers increase their competitiveness.”

The conference will feature speakers from an array of swine-related businesses and organizations, including:

Steve Meyer, Partners in Production Agriculture Senior Economist, will discuss U.S. pork/meat outlook.

Chad Mire, National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) Foreign Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Unit Research Leader, will discuss the NBAF capabilities.

Marcelo Almeida, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Clinical Assistant Professor, will talk about recent trends in swine health diagnostic cases.

Bryan Humphreys, National Pork Producers Council CEO, will discuss the U.S. pork industry.

Dan Gerety, J-Six Farms Manager and CEO, will speak on building a generational legacy.

“The 33rd Annual Profitability Conference has a renowned group of speakers that will provide direct information on status of the U.S. pork industry, discuss U.S. swine disease patterns, detail world-renowned swine disease research capabilities to safe-guard the U.S. swine herd and provide direct experiences from a Kansas family swine operation,” says Joel DeRouchey, K-State extension swine specialist. “This conference has a strong reputation for sharing relevant information to improve production for Kansas swine producers.”

The conference will take place at the Stanley Stout Center, 2200 Denison Avenue. The day begins with coffee and donuts at 9:15 a.m. and the program starting at 9:30 a.m. Lunch is included in the conference, which will end at 3 p.m.

Pre-registration is $25 per participant and due by Jan. 26. Attendees can register at the door for $50 per participant. More information, including online registration, is available at KSUSwine.org.

[swineweb]

California’s Proposition 12 Takes Full Effect

California’s Proposition 12 Takes Full Effect

By

 Jim Eadie

 -

January 4, 2024

California’s Proposition 12 farm animal confinement law took full effect at the beginning of the year, a little more than 5 years after voters approved it as a ballot measure in the state.

The law “bars sales in California of pork, veal and eggs from animals whose confinement failed to meet certain minimum space requirements,” according to reporting from Nate Raymond and Andrew Chung of Reuters. “The law mandates pig confinement spaces large enough to enable the animals to turn around, lie down, stand up and extend their limbs.”

While there has been significant pushback between when the law was approved and its full implementation this year (including a Supreme Court case in 2023 in which the court upheld Proposition 12), “major pork producers, restaurants and grocery stores, including Albertsons, Chipotle and Niman Ranch have already made the transition to be compliant with Prop 12,” according to the Humane Society of the United States.

“Companies like Hormel Foods, Clemens Food Group, Perdue, DuBreton farms and Tyson Foods have all publicly stated they can meet the demand for crate-free pork produced in accordance with Prop 12 standards,” the Humane Society said in a press release.

While many major pork producers have already complied with or plan to comply with Proposition 12, the National Pork Producers Council has said repeatedly it is concerned about the impact the law will have on hog farmers and how it will “create significant challenges for how producers operate and increasingly allows others to dictate how to raise pigs without any voice in the standards being imposed upon them.”

The NPPC says that 15% of domestic pork sales are to California and estimates that “the cost that farmers will need invest and pass onto consumers” is $3,500 per sow. “That means a producer owner operating a 4,000 sow farm will need to invest approximately $14 million to be compliant.”

Because of these concerns, and other concerns regarding interstate commerce, U.S. lawmakers continue to criticize and look to pass laws to address their concerns around Proposition 12.

KTVO’s Maddie Lee reports that “U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is renewing a push for federal legislation that would reverse California’s Proposition 12 when Congress reconvenes on January 8.”

Grassley, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and others plan to reintroduce the Ending Agriculture Suppression Act (EATS Act), Lee wrote. The EATS Acts “would curb states’ ability to regulate agricultural products sold within their borders and is in part aimed at California’s Proposition 12, which sets housing standards for animals used for pork, veal, and eggs sold in the state,” according to Reuters reporting from Leah Douglas.

The passage of the EATS Act could face its own resistance, however, as more than 200 Congressional lawmakers opposed the Act last year, saying “the bill could ‘harm America’s small farmers, threaten numerous state laws, and infringe on the fundamental rights of states to establish laws and regulations within their own borders,’” according to Politico’s Garrett Downs.