Mountains of corn are holding prices down for grain farmers, but they’re opening up opportunities in the livestock sector.  

“More farmers are diversifying back into livestock, especially hogs,” said Shane Ellis, an Iowa State University farm management specialist. “In this economic environment, the stability of a hog contract can help established farmers stay in business and help younger farmers get started.”

While hog prices aren’t spectacular, they’re better than a year ago. It looks like pork production should be profitable nearly every month of 2018 through August or September, Ellis added.

“There’s a lot of extra corn out there, due to so...