As reported by Hoosier Ag Today, Smithfield Foods has completed the sales of a few ventures. I thought I would pass word on this news for those interested. Below is a clip of the release. Check out the full article here. Smithfield Foods has completed the sales of both its Chinese joint venture Maverick Food Company Limited to COFCO Limited …
Mapping The Swine Genome
The Vice President of the National Pork Board is Gene Nemecheck. I met him at the NAFB Trade Talk session in Kansas City, MO. Gene is a veterinarian with Tyson. I asked him “What’s new with the Pork Board?” and he says that the swine genomic project just recently reached completion. He says that after years of work by a …
National Pork Board Responds to Jonathan Safran Foer
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. …
Minnesota Farmers Feed Hungry Families
Farmers in Minnesota are helping to feed the hungry, even as they face their own tough times. Minnesota Farmers Helping Families, a coalition of state agriculture commodity groups, recently donated more than $115,000 in pork and dairy products to Hunger Solutions Minnesota. Governor Tim Pawlenty was joined at the state capitol by representatives from the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion …
Joking Around: Prevent Swine Flu, Eat More Bacon
This is an interesting look at the H1N1 vs. swine flu references in the media that continues to plague the pork industry. Written by Gary Truitt for Hoosier Ag Today, Prevent Swine Flu, Eat More Bacon, Truitt suggets that producers quit fighting the “swine flu” references and simply start making fun of it. I wonder how this will go over. …
Facts About Pigs With H1N1
USDA has confirmed the presence of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in a pig sample collected at the Minnesota State Fair. The National Pork Producers Council notes, despite this development, pork is safe to eat and handle and that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu viruses cannot be transmitted through food, including pork. Pigs, like people, …
Celebrate National Eat Together Week with Pork!
Last week, the National Pork Board kicked off National Eat Dinner Together Week, in conjunction with Feeding America—the national organization that supports our nation’s food banks. For every recipe on the pork website that is printed or downloaded—they donated five pounds of pork to the nation’s food banks! The goal of this week was to promote pork nutrition information and …
Get it Right – Call it H1N1
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday urged reporters to “get it right” and call it H1N1. “The job of the media is to get it right and not necessarily to get it convenient,” said Vilsack. “Some media outlets have been responsive and sensitive to this, but there’s really not been a concerted effort by the media to do a good …
Novus Knows Pigs
One of the key targets for Novus International is the swine industry and to talk to us about it was Dr. Felipe Navarro. He started out asking each of us what our definition of “sustainable” is. He got a lot of different definitions. He has found that when talking about the subject it’s important to know how most of his …
PIC Helps Hog Producers Improve Performance
There are still hog producers in business in Iowa and they are more dedicated than ever to producing a quality product for consumers at the best price possible. That was my take away from a meeting I attended this week in Washington, IA to gather some audio, photos and video for our friends at PIC International to use for some …