Posted: 7:00 a.m. Sunday,Jan. 25, 2015

Is Porkopolis making a return?

ByLance Lambert

Contributing Writer

BUTLER COUNTY — 

    It might be an understatement to say thehog industry played a role in shaping the Cincinnatiregion: From companies that grew out of the region’s booming 19th century hogbusiness to immigrants that settled in the region to work in what was then thelargest pork-producing city in the world.

    For a region that bares the nicknamePorkopolis, it’s been quite some time since the pig business was a “bigplayer.”

    However, a report released by the U.S.Department of Agriculture last month paints a more positive picture of thedirection of Butler County’s pig business.According to the data, the number of hogs in the county jumped 62 percent to10,502, between 2007 and 2012. That’s the highest number of pigs recorded inthe county since 1997, and the first time the county added to its hogpopulation since 1987.

    That increase is putting more money in thepockets of Butler County pig farmers, whopulled in $3 million in 2012, double the amount they collected five yearsearlier.

    While the population is a far cry from thedays when Hamilton farmers would walk their hogsto butchers in Cincinnati,it could spell the end of the downward spiral. The county’s swine populationdwindled from more than 70,000 in 1950 to below 7,000 in 2007.

    The uptick also means ButlerCounty’s hog population is now largerthan Montgomery County — which from 2007 to 2012 fell 42percent to 7,112. In fact, Butler County now has more pigs than neighboring Hamilton, Montgomery and Warren County combined.

    JohnLake, a resident of Hanover Township,is one farmer who is playing a small role in the comeback. He jumped into thebusiness in 2007, to raise pigs for his kids to show in 4-H.

Lake, 51, who’s a union electrician, says he now hasa handful of pigs, which do not cost him much since he uses his extra corn asfeed.

    “It’s good to hear the county’s pigbusiness is growing,” he said.

Hog population growth a Buckeye State trend

    Pork production in Ohio is a $542 millionindustry, employing nearly 8,800 people and making it one of the top 20 porkproducing states, according the the National Pork Producers Council. The 8thCongressional District, which includes Butler, Preble, Miami, Mercer, Clark andDarke counties, is the 39th largest pork producing congressional district inthe U.S. accounting for $88.6 million in sales, $8.7 million in income and 236jobs, according to the NPPC.

    “States like Ohioare finding it easier to compete,” said Steve Meyer, livestock market analystand president at Paragon Economics in Des Moines, Iowa.

    The numbers agree: Ohio’s pig population in 2012 topped 2million, its highest mark in the USDA’s Census of Agriculture since 1982 — upfrom a low of 1.4 million in 2002.

    Meyer said Ohio’sproximity to Lake Erie and the Ohio Rivermakes it easy to get corn and other crops to the marketplace, thus leaving alower corn surplus to be used for hog feed.    Whereas states like Iowaand Minnesotahave a higher corn surpluses (cheaper feed), making it a more profitable placeto raise swine.

    He said, because of the uptick in ethanolproduction, pig farmers in Iowa are now seeinghigher feed prices, and as a result, places like Ohio are more able to compete.

Higher pork prices also a factor

    “There is more demand for pork productsthan we can keep up with, which might explain some of the expansion,” saidQuinton Keeran, director of communications at the Ohio Pork Council.

    Meyer says some of the price increase canbe contributed to the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, which left its mark onpig farms in 2013 — killing more than 6 million U.S. hogs.

    It’s hard to tell how many pigs in Butler Countymight have been affected, but Meyer notes that Ohiowasn’t as hard hit as other states, with Ohio’spig population climbing to almost 2.2 million in 2014. The totals for Butler Countylast year are unknown because the USDA only provides county level data everyfive years.

    Some Butler County farmers say the positivenews is welcome, especially after all the negative media attention the countyreceived in 2012, surrounding the swine flu.

    The Centers for Disease Control andPrevention reported in 2012 that at least nine people who attended the ButlerCounty Fair tested positive for the H3N2 virus, or swine flu.

A rich pig history

    In the early 19th century salty pork becamea U.S. food staple, and the Cincinnati region was quick to take advantage. In1818, the city opened its first commercial pork processing facility and by the1830s more than 100,000 hogs were processed annually in the city.

Themeatpacking industry was a boon for local businesses. Cincinnati-based soap andcandles manufacturer Procter and Gamble (Ohio’s most profitable corporation in2013) was one such company that gained a competitive advantage from having alarge supply of pig by-products, or lard, in its backyard.

    The city’s reign lasted until the 1860s,when Chicago topped the city as America’s largest pork producer.

Meanwhile,farmers in Butler County continued to play an important role in the businessand maintained large pig numbers through the early part of the 20th century.