The Boom in Kennewick’s Hog Industry
As wheat prices fluctuate, local farmers are advised to pivot toward diversified livestock to ensure stability.
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It is doubtful if there is another section of the Northwest where the hog-raising industry has had such a rapid growth as it has in the Kennewick country. This is partly due to the fact that the Kennewick farmer was quick to accept the preached doctrine of diversified farming and partly due to the fact that climatic conditions and an abundance of alfalfa rendered hog raising comparatively easy. A short time ago we were not only shipping in hogs to stock our farms but to supply our tables. Next week one of the largest individual breeder’s sales of thoroughbred hogs ever held in the state is to be held here by R. E. Pratt, of the Meadowbrook Farm. The question is, have the farmers who have gone into the hog business made a mistake? We think not. It is true that just now Mr. Hog is hitting the downward bumps as the price of wheat hits the high spots. It may be that some of our farmers have made a mistake in going into the business on too large a scale, placing themselves at the mercy of the wheat grower. The man who keeps a few brood sows and plants his tree rows and fence corners to corn or some other finishing feed is the man who in the long run is going to be glad that he stuck to the hog game.
“The man who keeps a few brood sows and plants his tree rows and fence corners to corn... is the man who in the long run is going to be glad that he stuck to the hog game.”
This editorial reflects the perennial tension in Kennewick’s agricultural economy: the struggle to balance reliance on big-acreage cash crops like wheat against the resilience of smaller, diversified farming. Today, this 'diversification' conversation has shifted from hogs to niche local agriculture and vineyard management, yet the fear of being at the mercy of global commodity markets remains identical.
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