Niche pork markets and alternative swine production practices offer an unusual contrast to commodity pork markets and industrial confinement swine production. The pork niche market producers are a distinct clientele group for animal scientists, agricultural engineers, veterinarians, and other suppliers of information and technology. If pork niche markets continue to flourish, the markets and the producers that supply them will be a viable sector in a diverse US pork industry. The niche pork market sector offers an entry pathway for beginning producers, diversified farmers, and sustainable agriculturalists. To continue to grow and develop, the sector will need appropriate research, extension, and support programming. It also will need to develop tangible incentives for existing producers to expand their
operations and for new or conventional producers to learn production methods of these systems. Specifically,
research on production costs, transaction costs, and herd health management is needed to provide producers
with the information they require to remain competitive and to secure operating capital from local banks.
The pork niche market is a rapidly evolving sector that presents unique challenges and opportunities.