Swine In Minnesota
There are about 7.7 million hogs on over 10,000 farms in Minnesota. The approximately 600,000 breeding sows kept in Minnesota produce almost 10 million piglets every year. Minnesota is third in the nation for total number of pigs, behind Iowa and North Carolina. The swine industry contributes over $2.1 billion annually to the state’s economy and employs about 22,500 people. Pork production is the number two red-meat industry in the United States, generating over $10 billion in sales each year.
Americans consume about 48 pounds of pork per person per year. The consumption of red meat has been slowly decreasing, but the consumption of pork has leveled off. With a population of about 105 million hogs, the United States ranks third in the world in swine production behind China and Russia. There are over 1 billion head of swine in the world today, with at least half in China.