Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICUTURE, 6/29/18

The pork industry is seeing some of the highest inventory of hogs and pigs since the USDA started recording data in 1964, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report released Thursday. On a call with reporters, the Pork Checkoff's experts seemed to struggle to find a bright side for hog producers in the months to come. "We're looking at an awful lot of hogs and an awful lot of pork," said Dr. Ron Plain, a professor at University of Missouri in Columbia. "We're going to look at a considerable number of months with red ink going forward."

It's been worse: Joe Kerns, president of Ames, Iowa-based consulting firm Kerns and Associates, noted that things are still better than they were two decades ago. "This is a prolonged downturn, but not a sharp 'v' bottom in the market that we saw in 1998," he told reporters.

An industry already besieged: But as Pro's Alexander Nieves has reported, pork has been hard hit by trade tensions, starting with President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Trans Pacific Partnership and continuing with retaliatory tariffs from Mexico and China. "You certainly don't want to lose those markets at a time like this when we have record pork supplies and prices under real pressure," Plain added.

Unclear what help lies ahead: Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told CNBC on Thursday that Trump will not force farmers to suffer from the ongoing trade battles. "The president has told me to tell [farmers] that he's not going to allow them to bear the brunt of these trade disruptions and to make a plan for mitigation unless we are unable resolve the trade issue," he said. But when pressed for specifics about timing or how the government would help farmers, Perdue declined to comment.