Everyone knows the last 16 months have been very rough for livestock producers, especially if you owned hogs. "Farmers lost money on every hog sold during 14 of the past 16 months," according to Ron Plain, a livestock analyst at the University of Missouri in Columbia. "On average, the loss was $45 per head in November, compared with a loss of $29 each a year earlier," he said.

There is hope though that 2009 will be a better year for hog producers. I read an article from Bloomberg yesterday that indicated hog farmers might see a profit on their hogs in 2009. “The big, big uncertainty hanging over all this is the recession and how deep is it going to be and how long it’s going to last,” Missouri’s Plain said. According to Plain, pork won’t suffer as bad in a recession because on average it is a more affordable cut of meat.

This news gives pork producers a sparkle of hope that 2009 will be a better year than 2007 & 2008!