A&T-Led Contingent Visits Alternative Pork Enterprise in Iowa

For Immediate Release
January 7, 2002

Greensboro, NC:  There is room for the small producer in the nation’s pork industry, but it’s not in head-to-head competition, says a researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, who believes that movements in Iowa might have application to producers in North Carolina.

“North Carolina and Iowa are consistently the nation’s largest producers of pork,” said Dr. Charles Talbott, an adjunct assistant professor with North Carolina A&T State University's Department of Animal Sciences. “However, most of pork produced in these states comes from large confinement facilities. This leaves small-scale producers scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to get in the game.”

Talbott believes that the Niman Ranch Pork Company, based in Iowa, might have the answer, and he recently led a group of North Carolina pork producers and affiliated professionals to Iowa for a visit.

The Niman Ranch Pork Company produces pork for upscale restaurants across the nation. They acquire hogs from producers who adhere to a strict code of animal husbandry, and who feed their animals natural feeds and raise them on pastures or deeply bedded pens without the use of growth hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics. The pork is then marketed as a specialty.

According to Talbott, approximately 150 small-scale producers in the Midwest produce pork in compliance with Niman Ranch’s standards. During the visit, the North Carolina contingent was able to examine the buildings, infrastructure and methods used by some of these producers.

“The Niman method is definitely a possibility for small-scale producers in North Carolina,” said Talbott. “They just have to see and learn how the system works, and this visit will go a long way toward that goal. If we can put all of the pieces in place, the Niman method has the potential to help existing small-scale pork producers increase their viability and maybe even bring back some of the other small-scale producers who have given up raising hogs.”

The visit was funded by a Unites States Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant. It follows several visits to North Carolina by representatives of the Niman Ranch Pork Company.

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For more information, contact the Dr. Chuck Talbott, NC A&T School of Agriculture, (336) 334-7786.