ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two eastern Iowa networks in detail and collected data concerning a wide variety of other networks across the state. Steve, in his late thirties, had taken over his family's farming operation from his father, with whom he had worked since graduating from Iowa State University. The plan that Steve Longley and the other farmers worked on all winter called for building new nursery and finishing facilities. Instead of weaning pigs from their mothers at about six weeks of age, typical of Iowa farms, the pigs are weaned at less than twenty one days and transferred to 'hot' nurseries. In comparison to Steve Longley's failed network it seems that care is rewarded. The real issue is whether the internal sustainability of the network, purchased at the price of the lost time and revenue that the negotiations entailed, will be enough to counteract the broader economic issues confronting Iowa's hog industry.
