Hog farmers rejoice! Baseball’s back!

Apr 05, 2016

Hot dogs and sausages among the staples of ballpark fare

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

As Major League Baseball continues its opening week festivities, we are reminded of the sights, sounds and smells that come from a ballpark.

Freshly popped popcorn and an ice cold beer are among the must-haves at a baseball game (and made possible by farmers, too.) But perhaps the most traditional ballpark snack is a hot dog or sausage -- and hog farmers should be excited, because according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC), a lot of hot dogs and sausages are going to be eaten this season.

The Council estimates that approximately 19.4 million hot dogs and 4.3 million sausages will be devoured during the course of the 2016 season. That’s enough hot dogs to reach as high as 5,425 One World Trade Centers!

Hot dog vendor

“There are challengers galore, but hot dogs remain king of the concession stand,” NHDSC President Eric Mittenthal said in a release.

Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to consume more than 2.6 million hot dogs – the most of any MLB fan base.

Supporters of the San Francisco Giants are expected to sell approximately 475,000 sausages.

According to the 2012 United States Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture, hog and pig farming was a $22.5 billion industry, a 25 per cent increase since 2007.

The top three states in terms of sales were Iowa with $6.8 billion, North Carolina with $2.9 billion and Minnesota with $2.8 billion.

Despite ranking second in sales, two of North Carolina’s counties were in the top three in hog and pig sales. Duplin, North Carolina sold $614 million, Sampson sold $518.4 million and Sioux, Iowa rounded out the top three with $417.2 million in hog and pig sales.

Join the discussion and tell us what stadium has the best baseball hot dog.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.