A thank you, an introduction and a deep dive

As Dr. Steve Meyer explained in his September column, I will be taking over his spot writing for National Hog Farmer. I do not take this responsibility lightly. Dr. Meyer had a long, storied career and a big part of that was educating readers about the latest developments and key issues in hog and pork markets. I am honored to continue on that path. I sincerely thank Dr. Meyer for mentoring me and all that he has taught us over the years. For my inaugural article, I will discuss the latest Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. Agreed, the report USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released Sept. 26 is already old news. Rather than re-massaging the numbers, I will dive deeper into the report and USDA’s process for estimating inventories and how it makes revisions. Hopefully insight on how inconsistencies occur will aid in interpreting future reports. USDA begins working on a report before surveying producers for data. The hog statistician at NASS headquarters, livestock branch c