Cost of production for a two hundred pound hog $1,150 to $1,550
Commodity pork price $1.00
So I need to sell my hogs for at least $1,600 to break even but cheap commodity pork from confinement barns fed on garbage corn and soy cake leftover after the oil is squeezed out can be had for $200.
I farm alone so twice a day 365 days a year I tend to the hogs. In ten years I have carried 600 tones of barley in five gallon buckets, walked thousands of miles, and driven tens of thousands just to try and break even at farming.
As much as I would like to keep farming for (profit ?) I am afraid I need to revert to subsistence. I have lots of water, good soil, and a good growing season . My customers have been loyal but there is a price break where I can’t blame them for looking somewhere else. I could grow vegetables and give them away and lose less money.
I find subsistence with growing several grains, beans, corn, and vegetables enough to feed my wife and I and a few chickens and a pig far less work than fighting regulations and expenses to legally supply the public with heathy food from hogs treated like the beautiful intelligent animals they are. Sad for the pigs but tired of feeding people against impossible numbers.
Thank you for sharing figures, it’s really important for people to see this. We’ve come to a similar point after years of trying to make our farm a viable business (mostly to keep the planning authority happy) where we just can’t keep it up. We won’t sell our meat anymore because we weren’t even breaking even on the costs of raising it, without beginning to count the hours of labour. It’s impossible to come out with a profit (for want of a better word for making a meagre living, there’s no profit in small scale farming) while existing outside of the subsidy system and without compromising on how we want to raise our animals. And then the red tape to sell legally, butcher costs, transport, etc etc. We also have loyal customers who will pay the price to know how it’s raised and could sell as much as we could produce (which wasn’t ever much more than a handful of lambs), but still doing it all for nothing and then to be told our meat was too expensive by others comparing to supermarket prices when we’re not even breaking even is utterly disheartening.
There is a picture of a round table with some of the staple crops I grow . I think humans lost a lot of freedom when we moved away from subsistence farming.
Don’t be disheartened when money fails us as farmers, it always did.
Really good article, and those are some beautiful healthy looking pigs! Sadly your story is echoed by many this side of the pond, but I love how you’ve turned it around and agree with you that a shift back to subsistence farming is a likely and necessary scenario, and pretty much what we’re aiming for here with a certain amount of local trade or surplus to share. Curious to know how The Challenge is going?
It is more a matter of picking a date and then sticking with it than any calorie limitations on feasibility. We have so many tools to lessen the work of subsistence , solar/ batteries that allow well water , home creature comforts, freezers , refrigeration, and enough power to run a small electric tractor. Electric flour mills for grains and a food processor to process acorns. Modern subsistence is not so difficult even for a seventy year old. Curtailing our sugar addictions, or coffee habits , or desires chocolate …those are hard to overcome and always entail Id Ego conversations.
My story is similar in that I was raised on home grown beef and milk. I made do with small kids on supermarket food while serving in the military, but have focused of feeding my kids home grown food from my dairy pets and associated meat by products. My husband can't have dairy or most of the meat we produce, so finding healthy alternatives for him is difficult in my rural area. Lucky we have a once a month food delivery to town service where we buy bulk grains that we can't grow and anything my husband needs. I personally only eat something I grew or made unless traveling. My body craves home food depending on where I am traveling. I enjoy your writing, you enhance my rural American life. Thank you.
It is so much harder when dairy and meat are out. Yes, I understand that craving for home food! I love your description of dairy pets and associated meat products- that made me smile, exactly what we have here!
Carly, I am so deeply honored to join your discussion. There is so much afoot in your writing that pleads for the remembrance of right relations, healthy relations between man and woman and beasts of all kinds, not to mention moorlands and forests, streams and rivers. I can't wait to see where this opening leads you and your flock. Count me in for any counsel I can offer along the way. Mostly I've got a litany of humble learnings and meaning-rich mistakes to offer.
I now have land to grow on. But before that, when we lived in apartments, I was able to talk the caretakers into letting me grow veggies in the flower gardens. I'm forever thankful they allowed it and for the fresh food! I struggle with the idea that I "should" be selling everything I raise now to be fair to all the other market gardeners around me. But truth be told, the people I give fresh produce to freely now would never be able to afford the food being sold at farmer's markets. The land provides more than I'll ever be able to use, so I give as freely as the land gives.
That’s so great that they let you grow veggies! I have this same struggle, not wanting to undercut those who rely on those sales for their livelihood but at the same time wanting to give “as freely as the land gives”. I love that last sentence, and it’s so true, so why not share the abundance freely?!
Great subject. I buy oddbox fruit and veg. Shop local farm shop who has fab cafe and farm shop. The owner is a master butcher so all meat is local as possible and butchered by him. I have a tiny tiny garden but grow blackberries, loganberries and some raspberries. Tomatoes in hanging baskets on shed.
I love this, a tiny garden full of fruit! It’s amazing how much food you can grow in a small space, and even in containers. We used to have cherry tomatoes and strawberries in baskets too, and potatoes in bags that you fill as they grow.
This is such a good topic! I've spent a good chunk of time home steading this last decade, so growing or wild harvesting most of my food. But there have been times in between homes or while traveling that I've been too broke or too stressed to eat real food, and we are still getting setup here on our new land that we won't be growing a massive amount of food yet. Luckily where I am at now in Northwestern Washington state, our food banks are stocked to the brim year round with local organic produce. It is absolutely astonishing - there is no way I would be able to afford to buy this much produce!
But really the most amazing thing I've seen here so far is a couple of FREE farmstands! I can't believe we don't see these more often, and I want this idea to spread! A couple of young gardeners just built a little wooden stand in front of their property on the road and put out a free sign. All the locals bring over the "excess" from their gardens and leave it for whoever wants it. I mean, who doesn't have an excess of freakin kale every once in a while, or tomatoes you just can't get to, or crazy amounts of arugula? There is also a community freezer where people bring over meat to share. How amazing is that?!
I remember the horrors when I worked on organic farms, and the amount of perfectly good food we would harvest and then let rot in the fields, because the beans were supposedly too tough for market, or the zucchinis slightly too large, or the squash had a mark. We secretly collected as much as we could personally process, but there were still hundreds of pounds of food we didn't have time for. Why the hell not put it out for free?
I really love the free farm stand idea, that’s kind of what we’re aiming to do here, but taking the idea of an honesty box a bit further with a tip jar. Kind of “take what you want/need, leave a tip for the farm or something to trade if you can”, (it does all cost money and labour to produce after all, ducks need feeding etc) but no obligation to give anything back if you can’t. And like you say there’s always a surplus of something and I’d rather see it eaten than rot, so why not give it away. Food waste is such a massive issue.
I'd love to chime in but not entirely on the question you asked. I think producing food should be all about the community but not necessarily confined to just growing. In my vision families who don't have land could take on other elements of food production. So you may swap your grain for some long fermented miso or some sourdough or whatever. That extends the number of people able to participate in a community economy and allows people to work to the skillsets and resources.
This is amazing, I love your thinking. Food processing and preparation is such an important and often forgotten part of the conversation. Thank you for chiming in, Heather.
At its most basic level, food is our connection to the natural world, a pathway that everyone should be entitled to. The factors that determine our food choices are many. Stepping outside of the industrial system is so difficult and I applaud anyone who tries it. Unfortunately, it’s not a level playing field for smaller producers. In terms of solutions, I would like to see full disclosure on food labels or in the form of a communication link to the food producer. I want to know the processing aids and synthetic interventions that have been employed in the production of the food product both perishable and non-perishable food items. The phrase “show me what you’re made of” comes to mind. For example, when I buy strawberries in summer, I’d like to know if they have been sprayed for aphid control before I tuck into them unwashed. If so, with what, how many times and at what concentration? I do not want a sanitised version of events. Potatoes are sprayed up to 10 times before they reach the supermarket shelf. Some potato buying shoppers might be surprised by this. Onions, a staple in most meals is another example. According to existing legislation, food labelling information must not mislead the consumer but the words “Made with love” written in the marketing blurb on a packet of cooked ham slices is distracting. I suspect the people who packed the ham need to save their love for themselves and their families. And I do hope the pigs were reared and not “grown” but I have my suspicions! Openly discussing the truth of how the food was produced and the constraints involved might separate the industrial producers from the smaller ones. It would give the consumer more knowledge and buying power. Thanks Carly, interesting discussion topic. Your strawberry eating goat looks seriously happy.
Great comment, thank you. It is such a complex and nuanced conversation. Very interesting to get people’s thoughts. More transparency would certainly expose a lot!
I'm in Wiltshire, UK, and we grow/ rear as much of our own food as we possibly can on rented land, I also run a very small CSA and am passionate about good food being a matter of choice, not privilege.
As I wrote about only today here on my substack, I believe the best initiative I've seen in probably ever is the Basic Income for Farmers initiative.
I have a large garden, privileged to be able to have the space that I have, though my dream would be to have access to more space for growing. Right now, with the chickens and the gardens I am at my limit for time, while also having to work for money.
Time and space is the factor that influences how much I can or cannot provide for my family and those around us. I am part of a milk cow share, a group of local families who collectively own a milk cow, and I milk her twice a week. I preserve what I can, and when my own garden runs short, I buy or trade from others locally. I just walked down the street yesterday to buy extra tomatoes to bulk up my passata sauce making today, as my own tomatoes are late this year. I share eggs with my neighbors, I don't ask for money but if they give it, I use it for spending on other local products, like those tomatoes!
I am lucky to live in a place where it is possible to access good local food. We buy our meat from a local producer who raises, slaughters and processes their own beef. There are many roadside stalls, and I can collect apples left over in the orchard right behind my house. I have citrus, several plums, fejoa, berries, guava, mulberry and hazel trees. It has taken a huge amount of time, energy, and financial investment to produce food. But the food we now eat is incredible. And our health has improved.
It sounds quite idyllic where you live! But yes, it really does take a huge amount of time, labour and money to produce food. Time is our biggest limitation here too, with my husband working full time, and the costs of running the farm mean I have to bring some income back into it as well. We’ve been doing like you with our duck eggs, not asking for money but people usually want to give it anyway, so that goes into the “duck jar” and helps toward duck feed. You’re very lucky to have a milk cow share, that’s so wonderful!
Great post, I personally get as much of my food from a local farm cooperative but they don't have everything despite me being keen to respect the seasons, I complement with farmers markets and the local supermarket as much as I hate that last part. I'd be lying if I said there isn't a cost to getting such farm fresh quality, especially with regards to the pastured meat, which I think is why so many people refuse to even consider it or explore other options. The way I see it, the cost and effort is worth it and I prefer make compromises on other things than on food quality, especially when it means supporting small scale farmers that have decent values and the best tasting food I can get.
Yes, I agree with this, it’s about priorities, if we can afford our smart phones, smart cars, etc, we can afford to pay farmers for good food, when it’s available. Or else end up paying it elsewhere on healthcare, environment and so on. Cheap food comes with cost.
A hog will eat about a ton of barley in a year . $350 to $750 a ton
Slaughter cut & wrap $700 , transport , packaging , vets, refrigeration $100 , + farm insurance
Cost of production for a two hundred pound hog $1,150 to $1,550
Commodity pork price $1.00
So I need to sell my hogs for at least $1,600 to break even but cheap commodity pork from confinement barns fed on garbage corn and soy cake leftover after the oil is squeezed out can be had for $200.
I farm alone so twice a day 365 days a year I tend to the hogs. In ten years I have carried 600 tones of barley in five gallon buckets, walked thousands of miles, and driven tens of thousands just to try and break even at farming.
As much as I would like to keep farming for (profit ?) I am afraid I need to revert to subsistence. I have lots of water, good soil, and a good growing season . My customers have been loyal but there is a price break where I can’t blame them for looking somewhere else. I could grow vegetables and give them away and lose less money.
I find subsistence with growing several grains, beans, corn, and vegetables enough to feed my wife and I and a few chickens and a pig far less work than fighting regulations and expenses to legally supply the public with heathy food from hogs treated like the beautiful intelligent animals they are. Sad for the pigs but tired of feeding people against impossible numbers.
Thank you for sharing figures, it’s really important for people to see this. We’ve come to a similar point after years of trying to make our farm a viable business (mostly to keep the planning authority happy) where we just can’t keep it up. We won’t sell our meat anymore because we weren’t even breaking even on the costs of raising it, without beginning to count the hours of labour. It’s impossible to come out with a profit (for want of a better word for making a meagre living, there’s no profit in small scale farming) while existing outside of the subsidy system and without compromising on how we want to raise our animals. And then the red tape to sell legally, butcher costs, transport, etc etc. We also have loyal customers who will pay the price to know how it’s raised and could sell as much as we could produce (which wasn’t ever much more than a handful of lambs), but still doing it all for nothing and then to be told our meat was too expensive by others comparing to supermarket prices when we’re not even breaking even is utterly disheartening.
https://www.independent.com/2025/01/08/from-gourmet-pork-to-subsistence-farming/
There is a picture of a round table with some of the staple crops I grow . I think humans lost a lot of freedom when we moved away from subsistence farming.
Don’t be disheartened when money fails us as farmers, it always did.
Really good article, and those are some beautiful healthy looking pigs! Sadly your story is echoed by many this side of the pond, but I love how you’ve turned it around and agree with you that a shift back to subsistence farming is a likely and necessary scenario, and pretty much what we’re aiming for here with a certain amount of local trade or surplus to share. Curious to know how The Challenge is going?
It is more a matter of picking a date and then sticking with it than any calorie limitations on feasibility. We have so many tools to lessen the work of subsistence , solar/ batteries that allow well water , home creature comforts, freezers , refrigeration, and enough power to run a small electric tractor. Electric flour mills for grains and a food processor to process acorns. Modern subsistence is not so difficult even for a seventy year old. Curtailing our sugar addictions, or coffee habits , or desires chocolate …those are hard to overcome and always entail Id Ego conversations.
My story is similar in that I was raised on home grown beef and milk. I made do with small kids on supermarket food while serving in the military, but have focused of feeding my kids home grown food from my dairy pets and associated meat by products. My husband can't have dairy or most of the meat we produce, so finding healthy alternatives for him is difficult in my rural area. Lucky we have a once a month food delivery to town service where we buy bulk grains that we can't grow and anything my husband needs. I personally only eat something I grew or made unless traveling. My body craves home food depending on where I am traveling. I enjoy your writing, you enhance my rural American life. Thank you.
It is so much harder when dairy and meat are out. Yes, I understand that craving for home food! I love your description of dairy pets and associated meat products- that made me smile, exactly what we have here!
Carly, I am so deeply honored to join your discussion. There is so much afoot in your writing that pleads for the remembrance of right relations, healthy relations between man and woman and beasts of all kinds, not to mention moorlands and forests, streams and rivers. I can't wait to see where this opening leads you and your flock. Count me in for any counsel I can offer along the way. Mostly I've got a litany of humble learnings and meaning-rich mistakes to offer.
Adam, your generosity knows no bounds, thank you. No doubt I have many rich and humbling lessons ahead of me, and I may well call on you for counsel.
I now have land to grow on. But before that, when we lived in apartments, I was able to talk the caretakers into letting me grow veggies in the flower gardens. I'm forever thankful they allowed it and for the fresh food! I struggle with the idea that I "should" be selling everything I raise now to be fair to all the other market gardeners around me. But truth be told, the people I give fresh produce to freely now would never be able to afford the food being sold at farmer's markets. The land provides more than I'll ever be able to use, so I give as freely as the land gives.
That’s so great that they let you grow veggies! I have this same struggle, not wanting to undercut those who rely on those sales for their livelihood but at the same time wanting to give “as freely as the land gives”. I love that last sentence, and it’s so true, so why not share the abundance freely?!
Great subject. I buy oddbox fruit and veg. Shop local farm shop who has fab cafe and farm shop. The owner is a master butcher so all meat is local as possible and butchered by him. I have a tiny tiny garden but grow blackberries, loganberries and some raspberries. Tomatoes in hanging baskets on shed.
I love this, a tiny garden full of fruit! It’s amazing how much food you can grow in a small space, and even in containers. We used to have cherry tomatoes and strawberries in baskets too, and potatoes in bags that you fill as they grow.
This is such a good topic! I've spent a good chunk of time home steading this last decade, so growing or wild harvesting most of my food. But there have been times in between homes or while traveling that I've been too broke or too stressed to eat real food, and we are still getting setup here on our new land that we won't be growing a massive amount of food yet. Luckily where I am at now in Northwestern Washington state, our food banks are stocked to the brim year round with local organic produce. It is absolutely astonishing - there is no way I would be able to afford to buy this much produce!
But really the most amazing thing I've seen here so far is a couple of FREE farmstands! I can't believe we don't see these more often, and I want this idea to spread! A couple of young gardeners just built a little wooden stand in front of their property on the road and put out a free sign. All the locals bring over the "excess" from their gardens and leave it for whoever wants it. I mean, who doesn't have an excess of freakin kale every once in a while, or tomatoes you just can't get to, or crazy amounts of arugula? There is also a community freezer where people bring over meat to share. How amazing is that?!
I remember the horrors when I worked on organic farms, and the amount of perfectly good food we would harvest and then let rot in the fields, because the beans were supposedly too tough for market, or the zucchinis slightly too large, or the squash had a mark. We secretly collected as much as we could personally process, but there were still hundreds of pounds of food we didn't have time for. Why the hell not put it out for free?
I really love the free farm stand idea, that’s kind of what we’re aiming to do here, but taking the idea of an honesty box a bit further with a tip jar. Kind of “take what you want/need, leave a tip for the farm or something to trade if you can”, (it does all cost money and labour to produce after all, ducks need feeding etc) but no obligation to give anything back if you can’t. And like you say there’s always a surplus of something and I’d rather see it eaten than rot, so why not give it away. Food waste is such a massive issue.
Love the idea of a community meat freezer too!
I'd love to chime in but not entirely on the question you asked. I think producing food should be all about the community but not necessarily confined to just growing. In my vision families who don't have land could take on other elements of food production. So you may swap your grain for some long fermented miso or some sourdough or whatever. That extends the number of people able to participate in a community economy and allows people to work to the skillsets and resources.
This is amazing, I love your thinking. Food processing and preparation is such an important and often forgotten part of the conversation. Thank you for chiming in, Heather.
At its most basic level, food is our connection to the natural world, a pathway that everyone should be entitled to. The factors that determine our food choices are many. Stepping outside of the industrial system is so difficult and I applaud anyone who tries it. Unfortunately, it’s not a level playing field for smaller producers. In terms of solutions, I would like to see full disclosure on food labels or in the form of a communication link to the food producer. I want to know the processing aids and synthetic interventions that have been employed in the production of the food product both perishable and non-perishable food items. The phrase “show me what you’re made of” comes to mind. For example, when I buy strawberries in summer, I’d like to know if they have been sprayed for aphid control before I tuck into them unwashed. If so, with what, how many times and at what concentration? I do not want a sanitised version of events. Potatoes are sprayed up to 10 times before they reach the supermarket shelf. Some potato buying shoppers might be surprised by this. Onions, a staple in most meals is another example. According to existing legislation, food labelling information must not mislead the consumer but the words “Made with love” written in the marketing blurb on a packet of cooked ham slices is distracting. I suspect the people who packed the ham need to save their love for themselves and their families. And I do hope the pigs were reared and not “grown” but I have my suspicions! Openly discussing the truth of how the food was produced and the constraints involved might separate the industrial producers from the smaller ones. It would give the consumer more knowledge and buying power. Thanks Carly, interesting discussion topic. Your strawberry eating goat looks seriously happy.
Great comment, thank you. It is such a complex and nuanced conversation. Very interesting to get people’s thoughts. More transparency would certainly expose a lot!
I'm in Wiltshire, UK, and we grow/ rear as much of our own food as we possibly can on rented land, I also run a very small CSA and am passionate about good food being a matter of choice, not privilege.
As I wrote about only today here on my substack, I believe the best initiative I've seen in probably ever is the Basic Income for Farmers initiative.
Yes, I agree good food should be accessible to all, and also that farmers and growers are fairly compensated for producing it.
I have a large garden, privileged to be able to have the space that I have, though my dream would be to have access to more space for growing. Right now, with the chickens and the gardens I am at my limit for time, while also having to work for money.
Time and space is the factor that influences how much I can or cannot provide for my family and those around us. I am part of a milk cow share, a group of local families who collectively own a milk cow, and I milk her twice a week. I preserve what I can, and when my own garden runs short, I buy or trade from others locally. I just walked down the street yesterday to buy extra tomatoes to bulk up my passata sauce making today, as my own tomatoes are late this year. I share eggs with my neighbors, I don't ask for money but if they give it, I use it for spending on other local products, like those tomatoes!
I am lucky to live in a place where it is possible to access good local food. We buy our meat from a local producer who raises, slaughters and processes their own beef. There are many roadside stalls, and I can collect apples left over in the orchard right behind my house. I have citrus, several plums, fejoa, berries, guava, mulberry and hazel trees. It has taken a huge amount of time, energy, and financial investment to produce food. But the food we now eat is incredible. And our health has improved.
It sounds quite idyllic where you live! But yes, it really does take a huge amount of time, labour and money to produce food. Time is our biggest limitation here too, with my husband working full time, and the costs of running the farm mean I have to bring some income back into it as well. We’ve been doing like you with our duck eggs, not asking for money but people usually want to give it anyway, so that goes into the “duck jar” and helps toward duck feed. You’re very lucky to have a milk cow share, that’s so wonderful!
Great post, I personally get as much of my food from a local farm cooperative but they don't have everything despite me being keen to respect the seasons, I complement with farmers markets and the local supermarket as much as I hate that last part. I'd be lying if I said there isn't a cost to getting such farm fresh quality, especially with regards to the pastured meat, which I think is why so many people refuse to even consider it or explore other options. The way I see it, the cost and effort is worth it and I prefer make compromises on other things than on food quality, especially when it means supporting small scale farmers that have decent values and the best tasting food I can get.
Yes, I agree with this, it’s about priorities, if we can afford our smart phones, smart cars, etc, we can afford to pay farmers for good food, when it’s available. Or else end up paying it elsewhere on healthcare, environment and so on. Cheap food comes with cost.