Additives cloud prospects for US hog farmers

Hog farmers in the United States, the world's biggest exporter, are losing out on a big payday because of a feed ingredient that many have been giving pigs for the past 15 years.

As hog and pork prices surge in China, the top consumer, its record imports this year will be dominated by Europe, not the US, according to Rabobank, the Netherlands-based lender. Like dozens of countries, China bans the use of ractopamine that is fed to more than three-quarters of US hogs to help them gain muscle faster while eating less grain.

With shipments to China dropping and US pork output exceeding beef for the first time in half a century, farmers like Randy Spronk are weaning their herds off the drug. The problem is that switching is no guarantee of overseas buyers. Co-mingling of meat makes segregating ractopamine-free pork difficult, and only a handful of processing plants can sell to China, including some run by Smithfield Foods Inc.