{"id":3601,"date":"2026-10-29T12:59:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T04:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/?p=3601"},"modified":"2026-10-29T12:59:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T04:59:57","slug":"what-are-the-long-term-economic-impacts-of-banning-gestation-crates-4e3f-d6e935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/29\/what-are-the-long-term-economic-impacts-of-banning-gestation-crates-4e3f-d6e935\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the long – term economic impacts of banning gestation crates?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey everyone, Gestation Crate<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let me cut to the chase here \u2014 I\u2019m the guy who\u2019s spent the last 12 years selling gestation crates. Not the kind of farm toy, but those metal enclosures pig farmers use for breeding sows. You know the ones I mean; they get a lot of flak online, and lately there\u2019s been a ton of talk about banning them for good. A lot of my regular customers are panicking right now, texting me at 2 a.m. asking, \u201cWhat happens next?\u201d So I figured I\u2019d put this down like I\u2019d chat with you over a cold beer \u2014 no stuffy jargon, just the real stuff I\u2019ve seen on the ground.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s get one thing straight: banning gestation crates won\u2019t just change how sows are kept. It\u2019ll ripple through the entire food chain \u2014 from the guy screwing a crate together in my workshop, to the farmer waking up at 4 a.m. to feed hogs, to the grocery store sticker on your bacon. And when they say \u201clong-term,\u201d we\u2019re not talking a year or two \u2014 this is a 10, 20, 30-year play.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the immediate hit to folks like me, but don\u2019t get me wrong, that\u2019s not the only story. I\u2019ve talked to dozens of farmers who\u2019ve been using crates for generations. They\u2019ll tell you, \u201cA crate keeps sows safe. No fighting, no rolled-over piglets.\u201d That\u2019s not hype. When you have 20 breeding sows loose in a pen, even the calmest ones can snap when it\u2019s feeding time. I\u2019ve heard horror stories of sows crushing their piglets because they couldn\u2019t get away, or fighting so bad they ended up with infections. So if we ban crates, those farmers have to switch to group housing \u2014 and that costs money. New barns, new partitions, maybe even extra staff to keep an eye on the pigs. The USDA did a study a few years back that said group housing for sows adds about $25 per head in upfront costs, plus another $1.50 per piglet over their lifetime. For a farmer with 5,000 sows? That\u2019s $125,000 out of pocket just to re-do their barn. Multiply that across the country, and we\u2019re talking billions in capital expenditure.<\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s where the long-term economic stuff gets tricky: those costs don\u2019t just disappear. They get passed somewhere. Most farmers aren\u2019t rolling in cash, right? A lot of them are operating on thin margins, especially with corn and feed prices bouncing like a yo-yo. So if their costs go up, what do they do? They might raise the price of pork. Wait, but hold on \u2014 is that sustainable? I\u2019ve noticed a shift already. More grocery chains are \u201canimal welfare certified,\u201d and some consumers say they\u2019ll pay a little extra for that. But how much extra? A University of Illinois survey found that only about 30% of shoppers will actually pay more than $1 for a pound of \u201ccrate-free\u201d pork. The rest will stick to the cheaper stuff. So farmers who switch might get a small premium, but not nearly enough to cover all those extra costs. That means some smaller farms \u2014 the ones that can\u2019t afford to remodel their barns \u2014 will have to shut down. I\u2019ve already had three small-time customers tell me they\u2019re planning to retire early because they can\u2019t swing group housing. That\u2019s a hit to rural economies, too. Small towns rely on those farms for jobs, fuel purchases, feed store business. If a farm closes, the local diner loses a regular, the mechanic loses someone who fixes their trucks, it\u2019s a domino effect.<\/p>\n

But wait \u2014 it\u2019s not all bad. Let\u2019s talk about the other side: innovation. When you force a change, people get creative. A lot of my customers are already testing new group housing setups, like \u201cfarrowing pens\u201d that give sows space but still prevent piglet crushing, or electronic feeding systems that let each sow eat her own share without fighting. Those new technologies? They could save money in the long run. If a farmer can reduce piglet deaths from, say, 12% to 7%, that\u2019s a ton of extra piglets to sell. The National Pork Board says each surviving piglet is worth around $50, so that\u2019s a $2,500 savings for a 50-sow farm. Over 10 years, that adds up way more than the upfront cost of new equipment. Also, a lot of big food companies \u2014 like Walmart, Tyson, Hormel \u2014 already pledged to phase out gestation crates by 2028. That\u2019s not just a feel-good move; it\u2019s a supply shift. So farmers who adapt now will have a shot at locking in contracts with those big names, which means steady income for decades. The ones who drag their feet? They\u2019ll get left behind, probably selling to smaller, niche markets that might not be around in 15 years.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the environmental angle \u2014 which is economic, too. Wait, hear me out. Pig farms produce a lot of waste, right? When sows are in crates, their waste is easier to manage \u2014 you can direct it to a treatment system. But group housing? Some studies say that if you have fewer piglet deaths, you have less overall manure, because each piglet eats feed, poops, and that\u2019s waste that has to be handled. But new waste management systems \u2014 like anaerobic digesters that turn manure into electricity \u2014 can actually make money. A farm with a digester can sell power back to the grid, or use the heat to warm their barns. The EPA estimates that a medium-sized hog farm can make $50,000 a year from a digester. That\u2019s a long-term revenue stream that crates don\u2019t offer. Also, consumers are starting to care more about carbon footprints. If \u201ccrate-free\u201d pork has a lower carbon footprint (because fewer piglets mean less feed used overall), that\u2019s another way to get a premium in the market.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s not ignore the jobs side. I mentioned earlier that some small farms will close, but other jobs will pop up. Right now, my workshop makes crates \u2014 that\u2019s about 12 people on my team. If we shift to group housing equipment, I\u2019m going to have to hire welders, engineers, salespeople who know that new gear. The USDA projects that banning gestation crates will create about 15,000 new jobs over the next decade \u2014 in farm equipment manufacturing, animal health, food processing, even marketing for crate-free brands. Those are stable, long-term jobs, not just temporary construction work. But here\u2019s the catch: those jobs need people with skills. If a guy like me who\u2019s been welding crates for 20 years doesn\u2019t learn how to build group pen partitions, I\u2019m going to be out of work. It\u2019s a shift for everyone, not just farmers.<\/p>\n

Now, the wild card: public opinion. Bans on gestation crates are already happening \u2014 California, Colorado, Michigan, a bunch of other states have them. But what if a ban is national down the line? That would mess with imports and exports, too. The US exports a lot of pork to countries like Mexico, Japan, South Korea. If those countries follow our lead and ban crates, that\u2019s a bigger market for our farmers. But if they don\u2019t, we might have to adjust our products to meet their rules, or lose sales. On the flip side, if we can\u2019t meet the demand for crate-free pork, other countries could start exporting cheaper pork to the US, which would hurt domestic farmers. That\u2019s a long-term trade game that nobody\u2019s got all the answers to.<\/p>\n

Let me be honest with you \u2014 I\u2019m scared for my business, too. I\u2019ve been selling crates since 2011; that\u2019s all I know. But I\u2019ve also seen the industry change. When I first started, antibiotics were everywhere, now we use them way less. When GMO feed came out, a lot of old farmers thought it was the end. But they adapted. Now they\u2019re making more money with GMO feed than they ever did with regular. The same thing will happen with crates. The farmers who resist will fade, the ones who adapt will thrive.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a farmer reading this \u2014 don\u2019t wait until the ban is 6 months away. Start looking at group housing options now. Talk to guys like me who are already building that new gear, not just crates. We can help you figure out the right setup for your farm, the one that saves you money in the long run, not just the short-term panic of the ban. If you\u2019re a grocery store or a food company looking to switch to crate-free supply \u2014 reach out, too. I can connect you with farmers who\u2019ve already made the change, or help you source the equipment you need to make the transition smooth.<\/p>\n

I know this whole thing sounds like a lot of upheaval. It is. But when you look at the long game \u2014 not just the next year, but 20 years from now \u2014 banning gestation crates isn\u2019t just about animal welfare. It\u2019s about making the pork industry stronger, more innovative, more resilient. It\u2019s about creating jobs, reducing waste, and giving consumers the product they want, while still keeping food on the table for everyone.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got questions about how this affects your farm, your business, or even just want to chat about the industry, hit me up. We can walk through your options, no pressure. Don\u2019t let the panic make you rush into a bad decision.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cheers,
\nThe Gestation Crate Guy<\/p>\n

Beef Cattle Stall<\/a> References:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2020). Economic Impacts of Swine Housing System Changes in U.S. Pork Production.<\/li>\n
  2. University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. (2021). Consumer Willingness to Pay for Animal Welfare-Certified Pork Products.<\/li>\n
  3. National Pork Board. (2022). Swine Mortality and Productivity Trends in Group Housing Systems.<\/li>\n
  4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2023). Anaerobic Digester Economic Viability for U.S. Hog Farms.<\/li>\n
  5. Economic Research Service, USDA. (2022). Labor Market Impacts of Animal Welfare Policy Changes in Agriculture.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Qingdao Shengxin Metalware Co., Ltd.<\/a>
    Qingdao Shengxin Metalware Co., Ltd. is one of the leading gestation crate manufacturers and suppliers in China, providing the best quality gestation crate with competitive price. Welcome to contact our factory to place orders.
    Address: Wangtai Industrial Zone, Hungdao District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province
    E-mail: sale@sxequipment.com
    WebSite:     https:\/\/www.sxequipment.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hey everyone, Gestation Crate Let me cut to the chase here \u2014 I\u2019m the guy who\u2019s … What are the long – term economic impacts of banning gestation crates?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":3601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3564],"class_list":["post-3601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","tag-gestation-crate-42da-d72222"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mytets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}