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Understanding the Measures of Pork Demand
One of University of Missouri Professor Glenn Grimes’
innovations in explaining markets to pork producers is the demand index
– a measure of year-to-year change in demand. The index is simple,
elegant, theoretically correct and widely used. The beef industry even
adopted the demand index as a monitoring device several years ago, with
economists at Kansas Sate University providing the computations on a
quarterly and annual basis.
The index measures the movement of the demand curve for a commodity.
Demand is not consumption – it is the set of quantities that consumers
are willing and able to purchase at alternative prices. A line like
“D,” in Figure 1, represents a demand curve or function. To measure
the change in demand from D to D’, Professor Grimes performs a few
calculations.
- First, he measures the percentage change
in per capita consumption, here represented by (Q2-Q1)/Q2. It is a
positive number in this diagram, but it could be negative.
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AI
Technicians' Impact on Farrowing Rate
There are three main variables that impact the success of
a mating/service – the sow (gilt), semen quality and the capabilities
of the person responsible for artificial insemination – the AI
technician. We will focus on the AI technician this week.
Farrowing rate is one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) used
in the Swine Management Services’ (SMS) database. It also has one of
the flattest KPI bell curves (Chart 1) in the database.
Because the AI technician is one third of the mating variables, we need
to look into more detail at the different variables that affect the AI
technician, such as: breeding experience, level of training, personality
traits (patience, detailed and routine oriented, organized, laid back,
good at documentation reviewing records, reliable, observant, etc.).
To evaluate each AI technician, you need very detailed records,
including sow/gilts identification, semen batch code or number,
insemination technicians name or number, and time of insemination
(military time).
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Climate
Change Debate Continues
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to
pass the climate change bill before it recesses this week for Memorial
Day. The bill is to cut greenhouse gas emissions 17% by 2020 (from 2005
levels), implement a renewable electricity standard for states, and
mandate various improvements in efficiency. The Republican members on
the committee have stated their strong objections to the bill and have
been offering numerous amendments. The bill will now be referred to
eight other House committees, including the House Agriculture Committee,
for consideration. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in a letter to
members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, stated its
opposition to the bill, noting it “ignores the complex needs of a very
diverse U.S. agricultural industry.” We are a long way from the
finish line on this legislation in the House, let along the Senate.
Indirect Land Use — A bipartisan group of 44 congressmen
introduced legislation, “The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Improvement
Act,” to eliminate the requirement that the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) consider indirect land use when calculating the greenhouse
gas emissions associated with advanced biofuels. There is great concern
of the negative effect indirect land use would have on the domestic
biofuels industry. Congressman Collin Peterson (D-MN), chairman of the
House Agriculture Committee, said, “The unreasonable restrictions
placed on the biofuels industry in the 2007 Energy Bill were never
debated by Congress, and I’ve spent the past two years trying to undo
the damage that we’re seeing now that EPA has published the proposed
regulations that will make it impossible to meet the RFS. In order to
ensure that a clean, homegrown biofuels industry will succeed in the
United States, we need to have federal energy policies that are
flexible, practical, and innovative.”
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Pork
Industry Repeats Support for Animal ID
The pork industry still supports a mandatory national
identification system, according to David Kempen, Poteet, TX, pork
producer who spoke at a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) listening
session held recently in Austin, TX.
“Until animal identification is made mandatory and all premises are
registered, it will never have the intended effects of improving the
animal health infrastructure, aiding in the control and eradication of
highly contagious foreign and domestic animal diseases and, ultimately,
protecting the U.S. livestock industry, its producers, processors and
hundreds of related businesses and more than a half million mostly rural
jobs for Americans,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the National Pork Producers Council and Texas Pork
Producers Association, Kempen addressed these concerns about USDA’s
National Animal Identification System (NAIS):
- The cost of the NAIS would be minimal and would far outweigh the
cost of not having the ability to quickly identify, control and
eradicate an animal disease.
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June 2, 2009: Swine Handling & Transport Forum, Des
Moines Marriott-Downtown,
Des Moines, IA; sponsored by National Hog Farmer, National Pork
Producers Council and National Pork Board. For details, go to
www.pork.org.
June 3-5, 2009 World Pork Expo, Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des
Moines, IA. For
details go to: www.pork.org.
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Swine Handling & Transport Forum – Des Moines Marriott
Downtown – Des Moines, IA – June 2, 2009
The forum will provide pork producers, swine handlers and transporters
with current information about the handling, transportation and
marketing of pigs. Presented by the Pork Checkoff, National Hog
Farmer and the National Pork Producers Council. Visit pork.org for more information.
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