Hog processing numbers have hit historic levels, a livestock economist said recently. Ron Plain, professor emeritus in the department of agriculture economics at the University of Missouri, said the United States had neither processed nor slaughtered 2.5 million hogs in a week until this fall, Brownfield Ag News reported.

As of last week, the hog market had dropped 20 of the last 21 weeks, Plain noted.

"We’ve got lots of hogs out there," he said.

However, Plain said, the addition of new processing plants within the next 1.5 years will help ease capacity concerns; he expects to see an upturn in the market in about 15 months.

He said hog farmers will adjust to these lower...