Current Status and Future Perspectives of the U.S. Swine Industry

The future is difficult to predict for the only certainty is that the changes that occur will continue to be dynamic. Many experts have talk about less than fifty pork production systems in the U.S. within 10 years. N ot all of these systems will be integrated. Some may be large-scale cooperative structures with thousands of producers banded together in a branded marketing program. The level of integration will be highly dependent on the public policy debate. It does appear certain that as the pork industry matures it will result in much greater coordination up and down the pork chain. It also appears certain that the pork industry will be increasingly knowledge based. The rate of change is also likely to accelerate in the current economic climate!