cost of organic pork production a seasonal analysis and.pdfVIP

Cost of Organic Pork Production: A Seasonal Analysis and Needed Price Premium for Continuous Production By 1 2 1 James Kliebenstein , Sean Hurley , Ben Larson , 1 and Mark Honeyman 1 Kliebenstein, Larson and Honeyman are Professors of Economics, Research Assistant, and Professor Animal Science, respectively, at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, and Hurley is Assistant Professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA. Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, July 1-4, 2004 Copyright 2004 by James Kliebenstein, Sean Hurley, Ben Larson and Mark Honeyman. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. 1 Introduction Niche markets of agricultural products are experiencing rapid growth. One such niche market is organic pork. Organic pork production is a relatively new and expanding segment of the pork industry. Similar to some other niche markets, it has also experienced rapid growth (Organic Trade Association). It is well known that the cost of organic pork production is greater than for traditional pork production due to increased feed costs and decreased swine performance. The industry has dealt with this by paying premiums to induce producers to produce the organic product. However, it is not clear on what level or how the premiums should be