DOWNSIDE OF A GLOBAL BUSINESS: A growing U.S. herd and Chinses demand slam prices.

摘要

For decades, Chuck Souder relied on corn and soybeans to keep his 400-acre Iowa farm running, but with corn selling for halt its price two years ago and soybeans slumping, Souder has shifted to what he hopes will be a more profitable crop: Pigs. He spent $850,000 last year to build a wean to finish barn, which can house nearly 2,500 animals at a time. He couldn't have anticipated how decisions in China would impact his business, nor could he have predicted the shutdown of west coast ports earlier this year - not to mention the number of producers who also expanded on the premise of healthy hog prires. These major factors will impact his future profitability, and are downsides ol doing business in a global economy.Since 2013, Iowa farmers have filed nearly 700 construction applications lor new or expanded hog buildings, a six fold increase from five years earlier, records show. Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois and other states are seeing a similar surge, said state agriculture officials.But farmers are finding that their new barns have had an unintended consequence, contributing to a glut of hogs that has sent pork prices to their lowest levels in years.