Posted June 10, 2014
Cargill facilities will be 100 percent group housing by the end of 2015, according to a press release available here. The Star Tribune also published an article available here, The Des Moines Register here, and Politico here.
Contract hog farms, containing Cargill-owned sows, will transition to group housing by the end of 2017. Cargill has maintained 50 percent group housing for company owned sows in the U.S. over the past few years. As a result of the company’s 2011 acquisition of an idled hog farm complex in the Texas Panhandle, Cargill is able to achieve 100 percent group housing for gestating sows. Cargill has invested more than $60 million in the purchase and improvement of the 22,000-acre property in Dalhart, Texas over the last three years.
“While Cargill was a pioneer in the use of group housing for gestating sows dating back more than a decade, in the past few years growing public interest in the welfare related to animals raised for food has been expressed to our customers and the pork industry,” stated Mike Luker, president of Wichita-based Cargill Pork.
Cargill’s transition to group sow housing represents an important shift in animal welfare. Consumers are increasingly interested in how their food is produced, including how animals are treated, which has created pressure on the food industry, according to The Star Tribune.
Therefore, restaurant chains, supermarkets, and other pork buyers are requiring suppliers such as Cargill to transition to sow group housing, as opposed to gestation crates. At least 60 major U.S. companies have announced plans for the transition such as General Mills, Target, and Supervalu.
McDonalds and Costco are also among the 60 companies making the transition, according to The Des Moines Register.
The transition is estimated to cost $2 billion or more throughout the industry, which could pose problems for small-scale hog producers, according to The Star Tribune.
“Without really knowing how their costs will be recovered, it’s very difficult for farmers to be willing to make the change,” said Dave Preisler, executive director of the Minnesota Pork Producers Association.
Cargill admits it will be a costly decision but feel it is the right decision for the pork industry, said Luker in a statement.
“While an industry change of this magnitude is challenging and costly, we believe it is the right thing to do for the long term future of pork production in the U.S., and our customers agree with us and support our decision. Nevertheless, we need to be mindful that many family farms involved with raising hogs have their life savings invested in their operations and it will require time and other resources if they choose to make a conversion to group housing,” said Luker.
Paul Shapiro, a vice president at the Humane Society of the United States, expressed support for Cargill’s transition, according to The Des Moines Register.
“Cargill’s decision brings us closer to the day when gestation crates will be relics of the past in the pork industry. Americans simply don’t support locking animals in cages barely larger than their bodies, and Cargill is right to be leading its industry away from the practice,” said Shapiro.
Based upon Cargill’s timeline, the company will be able to support “early adopter” customers seeking products from alternative sow housing in the next few years, according to Cargill’s press release.
For more information on animal welfare, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
Share: