ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews changes in swine production in Iowa. It discusses how networks may become one of the key strategies used by family farm swine producers as they confront the political economy of industrial agriculture. In post World War II, Midwestern agriculture swine production occupied a part of the general diversified farm. In the process, swine production changed from an ecologically and socially integrated aspect of household production to an industrial process which can be subdivided and rearranged into its component parts purely on the basis of swine biology. The firms contracting with farmers are some of the largest swine producers and feed companies in the industry. Networks are being touted by government officials and land grant universities alike as a way for farmers to cooperatively improve the efficiency of their swine production operations - to once again get together and get big.
