摘要：The U.S. pork production sector continues to consolidate rapidly. In the decade between1988-1997 hog operations marketing 50,000 or more hogs a year increased their share of U.S.production from 7 to 37 percent. The share from operations marketing less than 1,000 hogs annuallydeclined from 32 to 5 percent. However, the loss of farms beyond the very smallest category has notbeen as severe as typically believed. The consolidation is expected to continue as larger operationscontinue to be earlier adopters of technology and have taken greater steps to secure market access thanhave smaller farms. Fifty-seven percent of the hogs in 1997 were procured by processors outside thetraditional spot market. It is estimated that the 1998 number is approximately 65 percent.
