Photo: ARS/USDA

U.S. livestock: CME hogs rally after contract lows; cattle futures jump

Chicago | Reuters – Lean hog futures rallied at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday after falling earlier to contract lows under pressure from increased U.S. production. Cattle futures also climbed. A rise in wholesale prices for U.S. pork helped trigger the turnaround in hogs, analysts said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture priced the pork carcass cutout […] Read more


Photo: Zevei-Wenhui/iStock/Getty Images

EU pork industry faces ‘nightmare’ if China restricts imports

Hamburg | Reuters – Europe’s pork industry faces a “nightmare scenario” of lower prices and falling profitability if China restricts imports from the region, industry executives and analysts said on Friday. Chinese firms have asked for an anti-dumping probe into pork imports from the European Union, state-backed Chinese media reported on Friday, escalating tensions after the bloc […] Read more

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U.S. livestock: Lean hog futures retreat as wholesale US pork prices sag

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures backpedaled on Thursday from a one-week high reached during the previous session, while live cattle futures strengthened. Hog futures eased after wholesale U.S. pork prices pulled back from a jump on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture priced the pork carcass cutout at $97.02 per […] Read more


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Issues loom over hog farmers as they gather in Des Moines

Prop 12, bird flu, farm bill top of mind at this year's World Pork Expo

North America's hog industry is grappling with multiple issues these days, but is presently feeling better than some of the other livestock industries. That doesn't mean that everything's great, but not yet having to deal with avian flu infections is keeping hog farmers in a cautiously optimistic mood about their challenges.

Since 2018, ASF has spread through parts of Asia and Europe, and was detected in the Caribbean in 2021.

African swine fever efforts get $9.6-million boost

Pork sector projects get funding to bolster African swine fever measures

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – The federal government has earmarked more than $9.6 million to help the Canadian pork sector prevent and prepare for African swine fever. Francis Drouin, parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture and agri-food, said in a release that 29 projects under the nationwide African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program will receive funding. […] Read more





The author of a new book digs deeply into the rise of seven powerful, and largely unknown, baronial food families and how they came to dominate their respective sectors.

Opinion: The barons of the dinner table

New book pulls back the curtains on ag mercantilists

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Manufacturers are “an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public.” That quote is originally from the first economist, Scotland’s Adam Smith, almost 250 years ago, and is repurposed by writer Eric Schlosser in the foreword of Iowan Austin Frerick’s new book, “Barons: Money, Power, […] Read more

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U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures mixed, hog futures lower, amid demand questions

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures ended Monday mixed, after conflicting market signals sent feeder cattle futures lower and nearby live cattle contracts slightly higher. Lean hog futures eased, as market participants wrestled with growing uncertainty over consumer demand for meat as the U.S. enters into the traditional summer grilling season. In […] Read more