Cooperative Coordination In The Hog-Pork System: Examples From Europe And The U.S

The traditional organization of the hog-pork subsector, characterized by independent hog production and open market coordination, is being challenged as never before. Rapid growth of large, industrialized production firms with close ties to processors in non-traditional areas such as North Carolina and Colorado indicate the need for change in traditional systems in the Midwest if these producers and communities are to continue to participate in the hog- pork subsector. Given that few, if any, traditional producers have the capital to attain minimum cost size for a complete production system that fully uses new more efficient technology, some means to coordinate production and marketing of a number of producers will be required. Cooperative coordination of the production and marketing of independent producers is one alternative to achieve and capture for producers the additional returns from a coordinated system. This discussion describes and evaluates alternative models of cooperative coordination in the hog-pork chain. These models were obtained by interviewing executives from selected cooperatives and other leaders who are involved in the hog-pork industry in Europe and the U.S.