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The Effects of Large-Scale Hog Production on Local Labor Markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Stacy Sneeringer
Affiliation:
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC
Tom Hertz
Affiliation:
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC

Extract

Although the negative externalities of large-scale hog production have been well studied, econometric estimates of its potentially positive labor markets effects are lacking. We use the geographic shifts in large-scale hog production between 1992 and 2007 to estimate such production's effects on local farm and nonfarm labor markets. We find that every additional 1000 head at large-scale facilities in a county generates 0.57 additional large-scale hog operation jobs, 0.04 fewer small-scale hog operation jobs, 0.16 fewer nonhog-related agricultural jobs, and 0.59 additional nonfarm jobs, for a total of 0.96 jobs. Our total estimate is lower than previous ones based on input-output modeling.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2013

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