Despite changing market con­­ditions and consumer preferences, the Trettin family in north Iowa remains committed to raising pigs both as a family and as independent producers. While the pig-raising business has changed, it has been good for the family of independent producers in Rockford, they say.

Harold Edward (H.E.) Trettin began raising sows in the late 1970s after spending 40 years in the poultry industry, breeding and raising turkeys and chickens. A shift in the poultry...