Lee Schulz, associate professor, had several recent media contacts:
Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network story, "Record U.S. hog inventory up 5 percent from last year," June 26.
Iowa State University associate professor Lee Schulz told Ag reporters Thursday that the strength of demand will dictate prices for producers, as well as how fast hogs can be pulled through the system.
June 26 Farm Progress story, U.S. hog inventory up 5%.
"Really the biggest increase came in April and May with sows farrowing up 2.8% and 1.3% respectively," Schulz says. "You did see that larger sow farrowing that did give us that much bigger pig crop, but to give you an idea, when you look at farrowing intentions, they added 53,000 sows farrowing from the second intentions for that March-May as to what we've seen at the actual sows farrowing and so that was up 1.7% from that first intentions number. Now, as we see farrowing intentions for June-August, and September-November, those are well below year-ago levels, but just given that trend and what the size of that breeding herd is, I think those numbers could come in higher than what this report is suggesting, which is going to lead to larger pig crops and more supply on the market."
June 26 Successful Farming story, "Hog backlog on U.S. farms could hit 2 million head."
Schulz said the backlog could be whittled down if packing plants are able to run at high capacity this summer. Slaughter rates slowed in April and May because of coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants.
“We know we have large numbers of hogs coming,” said Schulz, referring to the record number of market hogs, 73.3 million head, on farms as of June 1.
June 29 Brownfield Ag News, "Demand remains crucial to pork industry recovery."
Iowa State University economist Lee Schulz says demand has been relatively strong so far. “But it’s really just what that recovery demand-pull will be out of it,” he says. “And looking at futures prices, I think looking further out there is a bit of optimism there.”