Larry Banowetz has raised pigs on his family farm in eastern Iowa for 45 years. But the hog industry, or pork industry as it’s now referred to as, has changed dramatically over that time. Larry says that in the United States, it is almost impossible to have a profitable small business as an independent pork producer.
“On the commercial market, you just kept losing outlets to sell your pigs,” says Larry. “In the last 10 or 15 years, the number of outlets for the commercial producer to sell their pigs dramatically dropped. [Until] it was basically just Tyson.”
Yet Larry’s son Caleb has always had an interest in raising pigs. In 2018, Caleb took over the family’s hog farming work, becoming a fifth-generation Banowetz farmer as a junior in high school. He remembers facing the same hurdles his father warned him about.
“The market selling commercially small-scale was really bad economically for me,” says Caleb. “It was tough to find buying stations…So you would drive an hour and a half away, and the price was just terrible. I was losing money each year. I don’t know how many more years I could have kept going backwards on my money, trying to make it work.”
The U.S. hog industry has seen a “rapid shift to fewer and larger operations” over the past 40 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since 1990, the number of farms with hogs has declined by more than 70 percent while individual farm size has increased. This consolidation has meant reduced competition and lower prices for small-scale, family farmers like Larry and Caleb.
The common belief among hog farmers is that factory farming—or raising hogs in large, confined animal operations where they are packed tightly together—is the only way to raise pigs efficiently and cost-effectively, says Caleb. But the Banowetz family has always gone against the norm.
“Sometimes you get funny looks. ‘Oh my gosh, you’re raising pigs outside. What are you doing?’” says Caleb.
Raising pigs outdoors requires less equipment and lower input costs, Caleb explains, but also more labor. He prefers putting in the extra work to see his pigs outside. Unfortunately, after his first couple of years pig farming, Caleb hadn’t been able to show bankers he could profitably raise his animals on a small scale outdoors. Some refused to continue lending him money.
Then, in 2021, one of Caleb’s college professors introduced him to Niman Ranch, a network of more than 600 small to mid-sized, independent U.S. family farmers and ranchers who uphold high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices. In exchange, they access a stable, premium market for their hogs.
Caleb was immediately drawn to the opportunity. Larry was supportive, but he remembers finding the concept hard to believe: “I was like, how’s this going to work out?”
Niman Ranch farmers raise pigs outdoors with deep bedding—the way the Banowetz family has always done—but they are also antibiotic-free. Transitioning away from antibiotics was a leap of faith for the family, Larry admits, and both he and Caleb were surprised by the result.
“I was around pigs for 45 years until he brought this Niman,” says Larry. “With antibiotic-free…you worry about death and loss. I have been amazed at how healthy [the pigs] are and how they’ve done…it’s really worked out well for Caleb.” They focus on raising their pigs in low stress environments and boosting the pigs’ immune systems naturally.
Companies like Niman Ranch lower the barrier to entry for young farmers like Caleb. Iowa farmland prices reached a record high in 2023, with an average price of US$11,835 per acre. And to raise pigs on the commercial market, the price of the infrastructure alone—typically around US$1 million for a conventional hog building—is usually a non-starter for young farmers. But with Niman Ranch, a farmer can get started with as little as US$1,000 and renting a neighbor’s old barn, Caleb says.
“[Niman Ranch] helps the farmer out by putting money in their pocket to help expand, whereas in the commercial market, you’re out there on your own. There’s nobody to help you,” says Caleb, who received scholarships from the Niman Ranch Next Generation Foundation to pay his way through college as well as grants to get his operation off the ground.
Caleb is now expanding his farm to raise about 2,000 pigs. He can now show bankers a “flat line of income,” as opposed to the ups and downs typical of the commercial market. He recently purchased his own farm and plans to use his pig manure to fertilize crop fields and build soil health.
Caleb and Larry hope to give the next generation an easier entry into farming, should they choose to continue the family legacy.
“You’re going to have a positive financial outcome here. That’s a big deal to provide some stability; it helps bring the younger generation back,” says Larry. “I wish I would have known about it, honestly. I would have been raising pigs for Niman Ranch for 20-plus years now, had I known.”
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Photo courtesy of Caleb Banowetz.
