Following a historic downturn in the swine industry in 2024, producers are feeling more optimistic about what 2025 will bring. Chris Ford, Vice President of swine agribusiness with Farm Credit Services of America, said that swine producers are also cautiously optimistic for what the rest of the year will look like.
“It’s been a really a tale of the last 24 months, we’ve gone through one of the worst downturns in this economic in the swine industry that we’ve seen, probably in the last 30 or 40 years. And so as we’ve kind of come out of that with lower feed costs, corn, soybean meal, and we see production kind of getting itself back straightened out. Guys are really optimistic about what 25 is going to give us. First half has been very successful, and I would say the second half there’s a lot of cautious optimism as we continue forward. So guys are thinking very positively as we go through ‘25.”
Ford said there are a few important factors to monitor for producers to be successful in today’s economy.
“The three things that I think are the most important in this industry is to continue to have good books, have good financial acumen, know your cost production as you kind of go through this, because you can make better decisions as you kind of go through I think the second thing is risk management. There’s a lot of tools out there to think about the using the board, using the insurance products, finding folks that are around you to help consult and make good decisions. And then again, I think third thing is just making sure that we’re adhering to the best and highest technology around biosecurity, because production is going to be king as we go through so those are probably the three biggest things that I encourage guys to continue to focus on going forward.”
This can be a lot for one swine producer to handle, but fortunately, they don’t have to do it alone. Ford said Farm Credit has a swine team that is thoroughly invested and highly experienced in the swine industry.
“We have a team of folks, both underwriters, closer and relationship managers, that specifically work in just the swine industry. So we understand the industry. We work with 28 of the top 40 producers in the nation. So we get a great perspective, not just Iowa, but we also can bring some of that nationwide perspective, back to our Iowa producers to kind of give them ideas around what you’re doing. Well, what are some areas maybe you can improve on so by having that expertise, we work in swine every day. And again, it’s the same with our beef, our poultry swine, we have those experts in our in our in our company to help guys navigate the waters.”
For more information, visit fcsamerica.com