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Has U.S. pork production become too efficient?

There are concerns the U.S. pork industry is too efficient following supply chain disruptions related to COVID-19.

Compeer Financial senior swine lending specialist Chris Murphy says processing was running at a very high level going into the pandemic.

“Very efficiently. And so do we need to take a step back and maybe run with a little bit more margin in the kind of process.”

Murphy tells Brownfield he’s concerned the breeding inventory is too big.

“We grow and raise animals through the farm, and move those to barns very efficiently. Do we need to have a little bit more slack in the chain, per say? So that when challenges arise, that impact on how animals are raised and moved through the system, we’ve got a little bit more capacity to make changes more quickly.”

Murphy says producers need to ask themselves if the decisions they are making on a daily and weekly basis line up with their short and long-term goals.