Dr Dean Boyd from the Hanor Family of Companies in the US told of the grave impacts world biofuels policy, along with climate change, is having on the global pork industry.

"Feed costs are doubling and it is costing US$122 to feed a single pig," Mr Boyd said. "By 2009, 40 percent of the American corn crop will be mandated to the biofuel market."

The demand for crops to be used as fuel is driving up feed costs for pork producers and pushing the smaller operators out of the industry.

Mr Boyd believes while Australia is yet to suffer quite as harshly as the American pork industry, the global growers are "all in this together" and need to tackle it as a global problem.

"Australians need to lobby hard to keep imports to a minimum and they need to see a price increase in the next 12-18 months."

Mr Boyd also predicted in the next 10 years the world would see a 10pc decrease in the pork industry.

He also noted that producers will need the ability to mitigate loss and have a strong financial backing to continue in the future.

However, the PPP conference was not all gloom and doom for attendees. Speakers Chenjun Pan from Rabobank in China and Jon Radcliff from the UK both spoke of the opportunities for Australian producers to capitalise on the growing Chinese market. Ms Pan said that Australia's stringent slaughter and health restrictions put them in good stead for export opportunities with China.

Despite the need for food in the fastest-growing country in the world, Australian producers would have to overcome difficult market access, competition from the US and a strong Australian dollar to gain a strong hold in the Chinese consumer industry.

Dr Jon Radcliff also indicated that these issues would be over come, due to the giant increase in the demand for protein products.

"By 2030 an extra 320 million tonnes of protein will be needed to supply the world market," Mr Ratcliff said.

Mr Ratcliff also forecast that another few years of bad drought and poor conditions could spark a global food shortage.

Chairman of the PPPE 2008 Committee, Dr Rob van Barneveld, said, "The industry has been through some tough times, however by gaining a better understanding of where we are heading, and getting high quality research and information from across the world into the wider audience, the Australian pork industry can look forward to a healthy future."