(SmithfieldFoods.com)

Smithfield makes move on market for pig-human transplants

Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, has established a separate bioscience unit to expand its role in supplying pig parts for medical uses, with the ultimate goal of selling pig organs for transplantation into humans. Routine pig-human organ transplants are years away, but recent scientific advances are breaking down barriers […] Read more

(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Oklahoma wildfires kill thousands of pigs

Reuters — Wildfires devastated a Smithfield Foods hog farm in Laverne, Oklahoma, killing at least several thousand pigs, company and local officials said Friday. The exact number of swine killed in the Oklahoma fire, which began on Monday, was not immediately known. Smithfield did not say how many died in the blaze, but said no […] Read more

(FarmerJohn.com)

Smithfield Foods to buy Farmer John from Hormel

Reuters — Smithfield Foods said it would buy parent of the Farmer John and Saag’s Specialty Meats brands, and farm operations in three U.S. states from Hormel Foods for US$145 million in cash. Smithfield will buy Clougherty Packing as well as hog farm operations under PFFJ, or Pigs for Farmer John, in California, Arizona and […] Read more



(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures rise again

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog contracts landed in positive territory for a second straight day on Friday, lifted by short-covering and technical buying that offset bearish fundamentals, traders said. December lean hogs closed 1.425 cents/lb. higher at 46.8 cents, and February ended 1.675 cents higher at 54 cents (all figures US$). […] Read more

(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures stumble as supplies grow

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures on Tuesday slumped for a third consecutive session, weakened by already ample supplies as Smithfield Foods’ East Coast plants return to full operations after being idled by Hurricane Matthew, traders said. Most-actively traded December lean hogs finished down 0.475 cent/lb., to 41.125 cents (all figures […] Read more

(SmithfieldFoods.com)

Smithfield sees pork operations back to normal Monday

Wilmington, N.C. | Reuters — Smithfield Foods expects to resume full production on Monday at its North Carolina meat operations, including the world’s largest pork plant, more than a week after Hurricane Matthew struck the U.S. Southeast and triggered widespread flooding in the state. Operations will get back to normal at Smithfield’s four North Carolina […] Read more


NASA’s Terra satellite observes Post-Tropical Cyclone Matthew being absorbed by a cold front along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard on Oct. 9 at 11:45 a.m. ET. (NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team)

Millions of chickens reported dead in Hurricane Matthew floods

Chicago | Reuters — Flooding from Hurricane Matthew has killed up to five million poultry birds in North Carolina, most of them chickens, the state’s top environmental official said Wednesday. Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, also told Reuters that some pits that hold hog waste on farms […] Read more