Dave Uttecht, president of South Dakota Pork Producers Council, says higher corn prices hasn't ended the growth in the hog industry in the Dakotas.

The region still has an "edge," he says.

South Dakota and North Dakota still have lots of wide open spaces and few hog farms. That adds up to the isolation needed to produce high quality, disease-free, healthy feeder pigs.

There also is an abundant feed supply – not just of corn, but also of soybean meal and alternative feedstuffs.

Uttecht – who is a partner in Heartland Pork, LLC at Alpena, S.D. - has been substituting DDGs for some corn and has used field peas to reduce ration costs in face of higher corn prices.

There's also growing interest from Dakota crop farmers in the hog manure. It's a good replacement for commercial fertilizer whose price is tied to oil and natural gas markets.

The hog industry in the Dakotas, he says, "is alive and well."