KDSN RADIO News
Iowa Pork study: Hog industry was worth $15B last year, 120K jobs

A new study from the Iowa Pork Producers Association finds the hog industry contributed more than $ 15 billion to Iowa’s economy last year. Association spokesman Kevin Hall says the study, which is done every four years, identified nearly 5,200 pig farms statewide.
“We provide about one-third of the nation’s pork, and that reinforces our position as the number-one pork-producing state in the entire nation,” Hall says. “We are vital to Iowa’s economy, creating more than 120,000 jobs for the state, and it really provides a solid backbone for the state of Iowa’s economy and especially our rural communities.”
Among those jobs, the study says 64,000 are in hog production, 39,000 are in hog slaughter, and another 16,000 jobs are in hog processing. Overall, Hall says the pork industry contributed $15. billion to Iowa’s economy last year.
“When we did the study four years ago, it was $ 11.9 billion in value-added activities, so almost four billion more now to the state’s economy in 2024 than it was in 2020,” Hall says, “and it just shows that Iowa pig farmers are vital to the state’s economy.”
Next week, a new administration will take over the White House and there’s much discussion about threatened tariffs and the impact on international trade. Hall remains optimistic about the future and the role Iowa pork will play in it.
“We’re going to keep an eye on what’s happening and just keep doing what we’re doing,” Hall says. “Iowa’s pig farmers, they’ve had a rough couple years in terms of their personal economies, but they are still working hard and creating jobs all over the state, 120,000 jobs in the state alone, and they’re just going to keep working hard and producing great pork products.”
The study says the top five Iowa counties for hog inventories are: Washington, Sioux, Lyon, Plymouth, and Hardin. Among those, Washington, Sioux and Lyon counties each have more than one-million pigs.