Arizona state miner., 1925-05-30
Farmers Rarely Hit the Mar
ket Right With Their Sup
ply of Porkers.

prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture.)
1t is not news to the American farm
er that the hog industry in this cOun-
try, as far back as its history runs, has
been Of d cylindrical character. Every
hog raiser knows that his business is
plagued by violent ups and downs that
mean loss to him, and extra expense
to everyone that sells, buys, handles,
stores or consumes pork products. SO
periodic are the movements of the
hog cycle that economists can fore
cast them with something Of the same
confidence with which astronomers cal
culate the orbit Of a comet or predict
aD eclipse.
What the farmer wants to know
about the hog cycle is not so much
how it works. he knows that to his
cost He wants to know what can
be done about it. That is not such
an idle question now as it might have
seemed few years ago. Studies made
recently by tie United States Depart
ment of Agriculture into the nature
of hog cycles have brought out the
positive declaration not only that the
cycle can be eliminated, but that it
can be eliminated by the American
hog producer, without the cooperation
of producers in any other part of the
world.
Worth Studying.
On the face of it a proposition like
that should be worth studying. With
hog production swinging in a fairly
regular alienation from over to un-
Reproduction, farmers practically
never hit the market just right with
their hogs. At one stage they have
many hogs to sell and make but
small profit or perhaps suffer a loss
on them. At another stage they have
but few hogs to sell, and this is al
ways when hogs are bringing the high
est prices. Any practical method of
gauging hog production and market
ing in such a way as to level out the
peaks and depressions OF the market
would be as good as a gold mine to
the American farmer
The possibility of regulating the
hog cycle, according to economists in
the Department of Agriculture, lies in
the fact that this country dominates
the worlds hog market. The United
States has as many hogs as all Eu-
rope. American hog production con-
tributes nearly two-thirds Of the sup
ply of hog products entering into in
ternatiOnal trade. 1t therefore dom
mates hog prices even though the mar
ket in which those prices are made
is worldwide. Steadier production in
this country, besides eliminating the
wastes tnseparable from uneven pro-
duction, would tend to establish the
hog Industry on a stable basis in
every country where it is functionihg
on a commercial scale.
Make Industry More Stable.
Economists in the Department of
Agriculture believe that the hog in
dustry coz d be made more stable If
producers would drop their present
method of gauging their production
plans on the basis of current corn
and hog prices, and instead base their
breeding operations upon the official
outlook statement issued periodically
by the Department Of Agriculture.
That may look like an invitation to
speculate. 1t is really a proposal that
the speculative element, which is
large in the hog business anyway,
should be eliminated as far as possible.
The present alienation of overprO-
ductiOn and undprnrOductiOn in the
hog industry results from the farmers
practice of looking at the current mar