Environment and welfare melt Dutch cost advantage

The Netherlands used to be a country where cost efficiency was a key element in production. Surface area requirements and increasing prices for manure disposal are likely, however, to change that picture. A Dutch comparative study into cost prices around the world reveals a gloomy picture. By Robert Hoste, pig production economist, Wageningen UR, the Netherlands Undoubtedly, the most important cost pushing factor in the last few years has been feed prices. Another determining economic factor is