Here's why the price of pork won't increase following Florence's impact in North Carolina

Hurricane Florence’s catastrophic damage in North Carolina has many still cleaning up, but for some hog farmers, they’ve been back to normal operations for more than a week.

One of the biggest hurdles in the days leading up to Florence was how to establish the safety of millions of animals, such as chickens and hogs, across thousands of farms in the state.

The North Carolina Pork Council said many farmers took “extraordinary steps” to ensure the safety of their animals. Some farmers remained at their farms for days without access to the outside world, the council said. Others needed boats or helicopters to reach their animals.

Farmers pre-stocked feed, moved animals to higher ground, drained lagoons where animal waste is stored and prepared for power outages by securing generators and stocking up on fuel.

Despite the precautions, Florence's relentless rain and wind did take a toll on livestock, killing an estimated 5,500 hogs.

North Carolina is the country’s second leading producer of hogs with more than 2,100 hog farms that raise 9 million hogs. It accounts for 10 percent of America's pork exports, which is about $600 million, the pork council states.

So could the loss of hogs in North Carolina result in a national increase in the price of pork? Unlikely, according to several analysts.

“The economic impact of the hurricane will be localized,” said Michelle Klieger, an agricultural economist and president of Stratagerm Consulting. “Hog production contributes roughly $2.9 billion to the North Carolina economy. The farmers that lost animals will be impacted and the businesses that experienced damage to facilities will have to rebuild.”

“In other environments, a shock of this size could have had a significant impact, but chicken and pork prices were already low because of nationwide over production,” said Klieger. "From July to September, national stocks of pork increased by 3 percent, an amount that can easily absorb the loss of 5,500 hogs.”

In an interview with USA Today, Christine McCracken, a senior protein analyst for Rabobank, also implied that prices won’t go up at stores, in part because of the logistical issues of getting hogs to processing plants. Many shipping routes were rendered inaccessible following the storm.

"Meat companies will struggle. They will have lower sales for some period of time," she said.

An estimated $1.1 billion in agricultural losses was reported from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in the wake of Florence. Of that, $23.1 million was from livestock, poultry and aquaculture losses.

As of June 1, there were more than 73.5 million hogs on farms around the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is 3 percent more than June 2017.

Smithfood Foods, the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer, has over 200 farms in the state. It said in a company update back on Sept. 18, that it had only one farm where hog houses and lagoons had been inundated by floodwaters.

“Our processing facilities in the state have reported no major damage and are running again at limited capacity,” the company said.

"We are tremendously grateful for the safety and well-being of our employees and their tireless efforts to ensure care for our animals. While some of our farms did experience damage, the impact was relatively minor considering the extreme severity of the storm and our expansive footprint in the state,” said Keira Lombardo, Smithfield Foods senior vice president of corporate affairs.

Larry Wooten, president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, credited farmers for their diligent preparations that saved the lives of more animals ahead of the storm.

Wooten said farmers don't like to lose a [single animal] and the loss of animals from Florence was "terrible." But he said the losses were a small percentage to the total number of hogs in the state.

"Had it not been for the preparation and the planning ahead, the devastation could've been a lot worse," he said.

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