IN SPITE of the crisis that pork producers across the country have faced in the past 18 months, Andrew Johnson says they will continue to be a major part of his family's diversified enterprise which includes sheep, cattle and cropping.
"My family started running pigs back in 1977 and they helped us get through high interest rates, droughts and low grain prices," he said.
"While last year was difficult, and this year is going to be interesting, I'm certainly more optimistic than I was this time last year.
"When we had the last downturn in the industry about 10 years ago, the moving annual total of pigs slaughtered was in excess of 5.2 million. Then when grain prices got high back then, the number went down to below 4.7m. But in the last 12 months it climbed to about 5.4m. At least the oversupply is now reducing and it appears that numbers will continue to ease this year."
While production numbers should come back in 2019, grain remains the major concern.
Pig farmers had been hoping that if there had been good summer crops in Qld and NSW this year, there would be less demand for grain from those states.
But according to an ABARES report released last week, drier and warmer than average seasonal conditions in Qld and northern NSW's cropping regions during December and January significantly reduced prospects for summer crop production.
ABARES forecast the grain sorghum crop to be down by 9 per cent to 1.3m tonnes.
"With the sorghum crop being considerably less than first thought, it obviously exacerbates the feed situation," Mr Johnson said.
"Then when you look at the situation in southern Australia, there's plenty of time before the next season starts, but in a lot of areas, they rely on subsoil moisture to get going, and it just isn't there this year."
Mr Johnson said the huge gap between the cost of production and the price received had narrowed greatly.
"Last year, the price for pigs was about $2.50 a kilogram, with the cost of production at $3.30-$3.40/kg," he said.
"It meant a lot of people were losing a lot of money, at least 50c/kg and up to 70c/kg.
"We started having modest rises in pig prices in October and it's at the moment up to about $3.20/kg."
