With hog prices at the bottom of the bucket, the University has formed a relationship with hog producers to provide financial assistance, marketing guidance or just entertainment.
The University Swine Center recently teamed up with the Rural Options Task Force and the Minnesota Pork Producers Association to form the Pork Action Team. The team is made up of 35 members with a wide range of farming specialties, from veterinary medicine practitioners to economists and engineers. They have put together a plan involving 11 objectives to help struggling Minnesota hog producers.
Hog market prices declined sharply toward the end of last year when the supply of hogs exceeded the number possible to be slaughtered. Packers had an oversupply due to Canadian producers bringing hogs across the border and a consolidation in the packaging industry.
These conditions caught the attention of University agriculture specialists and their response is now playing out on farms across southwestern Minnesota.
“We call ’em ‘farm calls,'” said University extension educator Bill Crawford. Crawford responds to farmers’ requests when they need advice or just want to talk.
Crawford works in Martin County as a livestock specialist, and in Martin County the livestock is swine. According to Crawford, Martin County is the highest swine-producing county in Minnesota. He said the outlook in the county is improving, and that most producers are not giving up.
“Martin County is progressive and most people are dedicated to stick with it,” Crawford said. Hog prices hit the bottom around Christmas at about 8 cents per pound. Crawford said during that time, he received about two to three telephone calls a day for farm visits. Now, with prices beginning to rise, he said he receives about that many calls in a week.
On a typical farm call, Crawford will do a “walk-through,” giving producers a second opinion on their marketing or day-to-day operations. If Crawford runs into problems he can’t manage himself, he can refer the producer to the swine center.
One of the pork team’s objectives is to spread the word to hog producers about a new toll-free phone number for the swine center.
Gerry Shurson is director of the center and was responsible for fielding calls from producers before the number was installed. Shurson knows what a lot of producers are going through.
“Sometimes they’re just flat out mad, and need to vent their frustrations,” Shurson said. “Once they know the history of why the market is where it is, it helps.”
But the University also knows first-hand the financial loss hog producers are experiencing. The University’s own herd of hogs, divided between the Rosemount Research Center and the St. Paul campus, will lose an estimated $70,000 due to low prices, Shurson said.
The swine center is a nebulous organization that keeps contacts in the University and in its extension service to help farmers with questions. Now the center has a staff member available all day to answer questions.
“If the staff member can’t answer the question, they know the person who can,” Shurson said.
Another facet of the University Extension Service designed to help farmers is a workshop designed to get farmers talking about stress. “Farm Alarm: Coping with Stress” is a play and workshop put on by a St. Paul theater company in conjunction with University extension educators.
After the play extension educators encourage the audience to join in a discussion about the play.
“Response has been very positive,” said John Schutske, associate professor and agriculture, safety and health specialist, “The play is poignant, talking about very emotional issues.”
The workshop is on a six-site tour of the state, showing next in Fargo, N.D., where floods and wheat scab took a toll on farmers. The play then goes to Nicollet County in southwestern Minnesota, where the majority of state swine producers live.