The current situation and future development of the New Zealand pig industry

Although in the past pig production has been an important export industry, today it is only concerned with the domestic market. It is an industry which has not benefitted from direct government subvention, as has been the case with many other farm products. Currently the industry is in an expansionist phase, involving the rapid adoption of new technology in production and the planned growth of existing markets. At present the value of pig output at farm gate prices is of the order of $100m a year. Pig production is no longer a subsidiary activity on dairy farms, operated in order to turn dairy byproducts of no commercial value into saleable products. Although some producers still have access to sources of cheap feed supplies, much of the industry is based on cereals and protein for which it has to pay the full commercial price in competition with other buyers. Over the past 50 years, pig producers have experienced widely fluctuating fortunes - generated not only by domestic factors but also by the changes on external markets. A succession of attempts to provide a satisfactory institutional framework have been made since 1921, the most recent being the setting up of the Pork Industry Board in 1983. While there is a considerable volume of research into the production of pigs, including consideration of studies undertaken abroad, there has been very limited work on the economic issues. There is a need to consider the allocation of expenditure on research, in order to give a better understanding of the economic factors which determine change and the level of prosperity in the industry. The present study is a contribution to the debate on the further development of the New Zealand pig industry; it brings together the available statistical and economic information on the current situation, assesses efficiency in production and marketing from that information, identifies alternative strategies for further development and makes recommendations. It reports on a postal survey of a stratified random sample of producers which gives details of their existing policies and their views on the issues which will affect future developments.