Fewer jobs, less local spending and the flow of profits to distant cities means corporate producers actually drain the local economy. The overall effect can be seen in a Virginia study that compared the addition of 5,000 sows to the local economy by independent producers versus corporate producers. Some say this economic calamity is the price we must pay for cheap, plentiful food. Corporations claim they attain economies of scale, or a lower cost per unit by spreading fixed costs and overhead over massive numbers of animals. But industrialization is not a more efficient way to produce food.
Studies show smaller independents are much better at managing costs and making profits.
Iowa hog operations with an output of 1,260 pigs per year averaged 5 percent less in total costs per hundred pounds of pork than did large, specialized operations in North Carolina with an output of 5,000 pigs per year. Hogs Today magazine. Iowa State University. The most efficient farmer, however, cannot make a profit without access to markets. Now, you have to take them 50 miles to one place, one day of the month and take whatever the one corporate buyer will give you.