Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago/New York | Reuters — Hurricane Irma sent farmers and food companies scrambling to protect processing facilities, farm fields and animal herds in the south and southeastern parts of the U.S. on Wednesday. Florida sugar and citrus processors rushed to secure rail cars and equipment that could be crushed, blocked or turned into flying projectiles. […] Read more
From sugar mills to hog farms, U.S. agriculture braces for Irma
Smithfield makes move on market for pig-human transplants
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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
Oklahoma wildfires kill thousands of pigs
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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
Smithfield Foods to buy Farmer John from Hormel
Reading Time: < 1 minute 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$145 million in cash. Smithfield will buy Clougherty Packing as well as hog farm operations under PFFJ, or Pigs for Farmer John, in California, Arizona and […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Lean hogs rise for third straight session
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures on Monday settled higher for a third consecutive session, with strength from buy stops and firmer wholesale pork values on the final trading day for the month, traders said. Most actively traded December lean hogs closed 1.15 cents/lb. higher at 47.95 cents (all figures US$). […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME hog futures rise again
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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$). […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures stumble as supplies grow
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures on Tuesday slumped for a third consecutive session, weakened by already ample supplies as Smithfield Foods’ East Coast plants return to full operations after being idled by Hurricane Matthew, traders said. Most-actively traded December lean hogs finished down 0.475 cent/lb., to 41.125 cents (all figures […] Read more
Smithfield sees pork operations back to normal Monday
Reading Time: 2 minutes Wilmington, N.C. | Reuters — Smithfield Foods expects to resume full production on Monday at its North Carolina meat operations, including the world’s largest pork plant, more than a week after Hurricane Matthew struck the U.S. Southeast and triggered widespread flooding in the state. Operations will get back to normal at Smithfield’s four North Carolina […] Read more
Millions of chickens reported dead in Hurricane Matthew floods
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Flooding from Hurricane Matthew has killed up to five million poultry birds in North Carolina, most of them chickens, the state’s top environmental official said Wednesday. Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, also told Reuters that some pits that hold hog waste on farms […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Weak cash prices extend live cattle losses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures finished lower for a fourth straight session on Wednesday as they marked new lows, hit by softer initial cash prices, traders said. October closed 0.75 cent per pound lower at 96.75 cents, and made a new low of 95.675 cents (all figures US$). December finished […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
