National Pork Producers Council President Ron Prestage says while it’s true that farmers who grow crops use less water and pesticides today – but livestock and poultry farmers have done their part to become more environmentally friendly – too. In the U.S. pork industry – Prestage says hog farmers have cut their carbon footprint by 35-percent in the past 50-years while reducing water usage by 41-percent and the amount of land needed by 78-percent. He says these reductions have come through production efficiencies – including 33-percent pig feed efficiency over the past 50-years.
Prestage says pork producers have done all of this and more with significantly increasing meat production. This year alone – he says 68,000 hog farms are expected to produce more than 22-billion pounds of pork compared to 12-billion pounds produced by more than 1-million farms in 1965. Prestage urges everyone to remember that modern livestock and poultry production is environmentally sustainable and the farmers who produce U.S. pork, beef and chicken are among the best stewards of natural resources.