Todd Banes and his son Trent farm together on Banes Family Farm in Tama County, Iowa. To help make ends meet, Todd drives a school bus part-time and Trent is a local agricultural cooperative manager. Trent dreams of farming without the need for an off-farm job—the fourth generation in the family to farm that land. But when he proposed raising pigs to help diversify income, Todd said he was on his own.
Todd saw the United States hog market crash in the late 1990s, when Trent was a kid. Many of their neighbors “got rid of [pigs] and never got back in,” he says. Today, agricultural consolidation and low prices make it very difficult to be an independent pig farmer. Large-scale confinement pig farms make up the majority of pork production in Iowa. But critics contend that these buildings cost upwards of US$1 million to build, produce pollution, and yield low-quality meat. Trent had no interest in that route.
“I don’t care for confinements at all whatsoever…I’ve worked in them, and it’s not what my idea of hog farming looks like,” says Trent. “I have butchered pigs that come out of hog confinements and it tastes like crap…I mean, I wouldn’t eat it. I wouldn’t expect other people to eat it.”
Trent started raising pigs “the old way.” Raising them outdoors, with room to roam, and without antibiotics. He started with 5 sows, which are female pigs used for breeding. It went well. Breathing fresh air makes a big difference in pig health, says Trent, and he encountered far fewer health problems than what he saw working on confinement farms.
“On dirt, they just look healthier. They get minerals from the dirt,” says Trent. “We hardly ever have to treat because they’re outside, and I think that has a lot to do with it…just like with colds in people, you get everybody in one building, one person gets sick and makes it 100 times easier for everybody else to get sick. That’s what it’s like in the hog confinement operations.”
Still, Trent was competing against large, conventional farms that benefited from economies of scale. His pigs were healthier, but he was getting the same price for his work as any other pig farmer. In addition, prices fluctuated unpredictably, making it difficult to plan for the future.
This all changed when Trent found a network of farmers and ranchers that uphold high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices—practices he was already using on his farm—in exchange for a guaranteed market for their premium, antibiotic-free products. He reached out immediately, and soon, he was one of hundreds of farmers raising livestock for Niman Ranch. His herd grew to 30 sows and he plans to continue growing, hopefully one day working solely on Banes Family Farm.
“It was a lot better when we got into Niman Ranch because it was a lot more stable,” says Trent. “You knew what you were getting. And you were actually paid for how you raised your hogs instead of nobody caring.”
The Banes say that they would probably not be raising hogs without the Niman Ranch network, because the hog industry incentivizes efficiency over pig health and sustainability. But Trent argues that his way of farming is better for the overall food system.
“It’s probably more efficient in a confinement because you’re controlling the weather essentially. But look at the grocery stores for instance. Look at how much food they throw away because nobody’s purchasing it…more goes to waste than what people realize,” says Trent. “[And there are] environmental factors, too. With nitrates in the groundwater from the confinements and air quality issues.”
Trent is encouraged by the positive feedback he hears from customers, chefs, and other farmers. His pork has won awards at Niman Ranch’s Annual Hog Farmer Appreciation Celebration for top pork quality, and many eaters share that it is the best pork they have ever tasted.
Trent wishes more eaters understood the dedication and work that small-scale farmers like himself put in to raise their pigs sustainably and humanely.
“I know a few people that have confinements. The pigs are just a commodity to them…get them in, get them out, make the money,” says Trent. “Whereas we and other Niman Ranch farmers really care about the pigs.”
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Photo courtesy of the Banes
