Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter, is visiting with the President of the National Pork Producers Council, Scott Hays, about an update on issues in the pork industry.
Scott Hays is a fifth-generation pork producer and has been involved in many aspects of production. While owning sows and production facilities, he enjoys involvement in the family’s sixth-generation swine management, swine building maintenance, and livestock hauling business operations.
Hays first gave an update on California’s Proposition 12.
“We are still working on Prop 12,” Hays said. “It is a problem for not only producers but for consumers as well. We are starting to get some information out of California, and I think those folks are going to have some buyer’s remorse.”
The price of pork in California is up as much as 27 percent, Hays said, while the rest of the country is seeing close to a 2 percent decrease in the price of pork. Hays said that issues do not stop at the price, as there are also a few availability issues.
“Prop 12 won’t be fully implemented until after the 1st of the year, so we are working with Congress right now through the Farm Bill to try to get a fix,” Hays said.
Regarding the Farm Bill, Hays said the main concern of NPPC is foreign animal disease and ensuring that in the event of an outbreak, APHIS is adequately prepared.
“We have done a lot of work on prevention and preparedness for foreign animal disease,” Hays said.
While there is a vaccine bank for Foot and Mouth Disease, Hays said NPPC would like to see some expansion to add an African Swine Fever vaccine one day.
Overall, Hays said swine herd health has been good across the nation.
“The herd seems to be healthy this year,” Hays said. “We are in a very tough economic time right now in the industry, which is always challenging, and it is just hard to watch. Producers are struggling, and it is mainly on the import cost side of things.
Hays said producers are still spending about 60 percent more to raise a pig than they did three years ago, and the meat market is not keeping pace.
Finding labor in rural areas is also a challenge, Hays said, as unemployment is lower in rural areas.
“The rural area is an aging population, and we are seeing smaller families,” Hays said. “We are more reliant upon immigrant labor all the time, and we need some type of reform. I think every American understands that our immigration policy is broken.”
Hays said immigration programs need to be modernized so that pork producers can access the help they need.
