“Those Bastards Can Go To Hell!” Small-Farmer Resistance To Vertical Integration and Concentration in the Pork Industry By, Mark A. Gray

“ Vertical integration and concentration in hog production have made it difficult for small family hog farms to survive. This article examines a small group of Iowa hog farmers who formed a cooperative to raise and sell “free- range” pork to niche markets. By forming a cooperative, these farmers actively sought to resist structural change in the pork industry. Despite the availability of markets and adequate hog supplies, this fledgling cooperative faced a number of obstacles, including social pressure from other farmers and disagreements about the adequacy of their hog-raising methods. The future is uncertain, and it faces an uphill battle against the dominant pork producers”

Background - Hog production has become very concentrated into a few sectors. In 1975 there were 661,000 hog farmers in US, by 1995 that fell almost 70% to 208,000. In the last 10 years that has fell another 37%. In companies controlled 60% of all hogs. If the current continues soon nearly all of the US’s 9 million hogs will be raised on only 20,000 farms controlled by a handfull of companies. Hog production is following the model of poultry, contracts between packing plants and large producers, including pigs raised under a contract by individual farmers.

Prices Pig prices fell hard in the late 90’s, at an Iowa plant pigs were bought at $8.00 per 100lbs. $27.00 below the price needed for a farmer to break even. Small farmers are tolled to stop fighting the concentration of the industry, either to leave the business or become part of a contract with a large producer. “Get big, get integrated, or get out.”

Alta Vista & Elma, Iowa Alta Vista and Elma are two small towns in Iowa, home to about 25 viable family hog farms. Both are served by the same grain elevator cooperative, a branch of the Howard County Equity, a small cooperative. Howard County Equity encourages small-scale farms and free-range hog raising. The farmers in this area raise hogs in traditional ways used by their parents and grandparents. These methods are much lower cost than large confinement buildings, were hogs are raised close together on concrete floors. Farmers also did not give them growth stimulants or antibiotics, or use electric prods which affected the taste of the meat.

Competition Back in the day farmers competed against each other, most packing plants bought directly from independent farmers. Restructuring of the industry meant that most plants bought from large integrated producers with contracts. In many states the plants own and raise the hogs for themeselves, although this is illegal in Iowa. Now days farmers have few chances to sell to plants, and often receive a lower price than contract producers. Some farmers tried to band together and compete with the large producers. This forced many to take on huge debt to adopt capital intensive methods like confinement barns. Even these cooperatives still displaced small farmers.

New Markets In Alma Vista and Elma, the farmers were already raising “Natural” hogs that could receive a higher price in a non traditional market. A few farmers began to sell there hogs to Niman Ranch, a company that sold meat to natural food stores in San Fransisco. This got them a better price for their pigs, but kept them from exploring local markets and selling there pigs themeselves. Soon local farmers began meeting to talk over the idea of forming a new cooperative to sell to more local institutional buyers rather than San Francisco or Chicago. Soon about 6 farmers formed a core of the idea, and Came together to form the Fresh Air Pork Circle. The Fresh Air Pork Circle was formed without a bank loan or single use building, and meant very low risk for the members.

The farmers were very good salesmen and quickly found a handfull of eager buyers. However sales relied heavily on personel contact with buyers, and farmers often had to choose between working on there own farms or doing work for the cooperative Problems developed both between some members and with the perceptions of neighbors. Farmers were critical of integration and concentration, but many were also grain farmers and seed dealers with ties to industrial agriculture. The local farmers saw each other almost daily at the County Equity and talked about changes in the industry, as well as sharing gossip. Many locals viewed the cooperative as a big joke and made fun of members.

One of the members felt that natural standards did not go far enough and became organic. He knew that organic meat got a higher price and believed it was the best way to challenge industrial agriculture. He also had a stressed relationship with other members because he was often critical of their efforts, as well as selling his own products as a representative of Fresh Air. Many farmers were also very suspicious of the organic movement. One farmer said he always saw organic “as kind of like a cult”. At the end of the day the though the cooperative wasn’t about making money but to keep raising hogs.

The Future The members discovered that integration and consolidation in the production of food has become so deeply ingrained in the way food is consumed in this country that a link between farmers and consumers is now irrelevant. After a year two new farmers joined, and bimonthly meetings continued. Central planning was given to an Equity employee without a farm and with time to manage orders. Marketing and sales however were minimal, and they were forced to use four different lockers to process the hogs. Eventually they bought two freezers and concentrated on selling at the local equity. Meetings were less about selling hogs and making business decisions, and were more about keeping relationships between farmers, and convincing each other they could make it. The most important lesson may be that the best way to fight industrial agriculture is to look locally instead of the outside world.