The hog industry has changed in the last decade or two and I think we need to consider that as we discuss the current swine flu outbreak. First of all, it changed in the U.S. As of 2007, the top 4 pork packers controlled 66% of the U.S. market: Smithfield, Tyson, Swift, and Cargill. And Smithfield and Swift have since merged with JBS to become one company. This represents massive consolidation compared with the past. According to the USDA:
The number of hog farms fell by more than 70 percent between 1992 and 2004, whereas the hog inventory remained stable. The average hog operation grew from 945 head in 1992 to 2,589 head in 1998 and to 4,646 head in 2004. The share of the hog inventory on operations with 2,000 or more head increased from less than 30 percent to nearly 80 percent. Operations with 5,000 or more head held more than 50 percent of the hog inventory in 2004. - The Changing Economics of U.S. Hog Production
What about Mexico? It seems that Mexico also experienced consolidation of the hog sector during the same period of time. NAFTA is what allowed Smithfield to buy up Mexico's top hog company. Smithfield aimed for vertical integration in Mexico and planned to capitalize on cheaper labor costs in Mexico to produce pork on the cheap and then export it to the U.S.
As for the flu itself, hogs get the flu the same way people do. Just like your chances of getting the flu go up if you hang out in a preschool class where the children sneeze on you and don't wash their hands (my mom teaches preschool, I would know), pigs are more likely to contract a disease in the crowded unsanitary conditions of a factory farm - FAR more disgusting than your average preschool class.
My point is that we haven't been factory farming hogs for very long, and it took only about a decade to produce a deadly disease (or two, if you count MRSA). Perhaps that should be telling us something? |
