----- Original Message -----
From: ...

Originally from: <...>
To: <...>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 10:46 AM
Subject: [farmtalking] RE: Smithfield wins bid for Farmland Industries Pork Division

Thanks Gary!

I've read your message and the article/interview with Luter of Smithfield;

both very interesting.

However, I have a few observations to make.

Like so many others, I had taken little interest in where or how our food

was produced until the FMD outbreak of 2001. This in spite of the fact that members of my own family were farmers and for most of my life I've lived in the countryside, on or near farms.

Of course I know that the world's human population has increased and many

species of animal and plants too, in order to provide us with food.

I have learnt, for instance that the UK is not self sufficient in wheat,

nor has it been since before WWII. We have to import wheat for our bread.

The same applies to chicken, we do not produce enough ourselves to supply

the demand and huge quantities are imported.

I also know that the animals reared in this country were of excellent

quality and we exported livestock as foundation breeding stock to many parts of the world during the last century. Beef cattle, pigs and sheep were sent to South America, the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand for instance.

Those countries were able to produce vast quantities, which other

countries and ourselves imported as required.

There is no doubt that huge changes have occurred everywhere, including in

the UK, during the last century. Having been a producer and manufacturer of goods since the industrial revolution, we are now mainly supplying services and have to import both manufactured goods and food.

Looking at this from a wide perspective it seems to be an evolutionary

process that makes sense in much the same way as the traditional family structure used to make sense. Dad went out to work and Mum stayed at home and cared for the family. However, that too has evolved and changed.

Both have and are causing problems, but one thing is certain, we can't

turn the clock back to how things used to be. We have to face the problems and try to solve them.

We complain because some have grabbed the opportunities and like Luter

with Smithfield, have been prepared to take the risks (i.e.: borrow the money) and gone ahead and established a successful business that supplies what the market demands. The downside of this is the failure of the small producer who could not compete.

Exactly the same has happened in our shopping centres. Fifty years ago our

towns were filled with small family-owned shops supplying a variety of goods. Huge super stores that do the same has now replaced them and we the consumers use them.

It is tempting to remember what we think of as 'the good old days' and

wish for their return but we know it won't happen. If the world is to be supplied with food and goods both as efficiently and economically as possible, companies like Smithfield are going to be formed and expand to supply us.

Our concerns cannot be their destruction but making sure that the methods

they use are humane, of the very best practise and that food is fairly distributed among humanity worldwide.

At the same time we have to try to improve vaccines for FMD/TB etc, and

discover the truth about such diseases as BSE/Scrapie etc and the benefits or not of GM crops.

I am very fortunate to still be able to live on a family owned farm where

the animals are well cared for and the land is still farmed in a fairly traditional manner. However, it would be very naive of me to imagine that both the farm and I will continue to live in this way forever.

Changes will come and probably sooner than we expect or perhaps desire,

but we have to adjust to them and work to ensure that the changes will benefit us all, animals, crops and human beings if any of us are to survive a species!

Author wrote:
Dear Friends: Some of you have asked why I am still in this mess. I

only had one initial goal....to do what I could to prevent FAD's Foreign Animal Diseases like FMD from striking the soils of the USA.

I'd like to go to my grave knowing I did actually have a hand in helping

prevent that from happening, so far.

Then it started becoming personal. I think I "bonded" to this and the

other Smartgroups that posted thousands of messages to each other for nearly three years now. You all got to be like a big "family." and yes, we've lost some of the Best Contributors already, God Bless'em.

Ok...Burkie...get with it and tell us what's on you're trying to

share....so I will.

I grew up raising livestock. I went with my Dad to the Bank to get

loans. I scooped grain to feed them...silage, too...and scopped poop after they ate it. We raised purebred livestock.

Know that business, too. And it was fun to win a show...get a "premium"

price for a boar or gilt or bull calf. Mission accomplished! Success! Paper-clippings and ribbons.

Wanted to be a vet. Was good at keeping my animals healthy.
Read every farm magazine and periodical I could. Hogs were

Beautiful...said my most admired person, Mr. Roy Keppy, who won the Chicago show with his hogs year in and year out in the 60's.

Oh, to know him! And the Pork Queens were beautiful!
Unfortunately, my high school counselor didn't realize I needed to know

such things as Physics, and Trigonometry to get admitted to vet school....and when it came time to go to college, I was rather inadequately prepared for such courses. But shifted gears and got involved with meats, meat judging, buying and selling. Loved it...got good grades and made many friends in the hog and cattle feeding business. Got a job with the Premier Meat Packing Business at the time, Oscar Mayer and Co. They put me in the "heart of hog" country....East Iowa and yes, I finally got to meet Mr. Keppy...and a lot of really swell people who raised both hogs and cattle.....they were on every farm....and evryone lived, breathed and died livestock. We all worked hard to improve genetics...and performance and efficiency...and fight disease, yes, there was "bio-security" back in those days, too.

Some producers were a lot more particular about things like that, than

others.

Well, then came changes in the meat packing industry. Grade and Yield,

Futures Contracting...to name a couple. Little did I know that such organizations like Smithfield was beginning to make it's moves.

Now then, what's left of all this? Not much!
The Ruthless Rape of independent owners raising livestock has occurred.

There are only huge producers left. The days of the Farm Family pulling together and helping each other with livestock on their farms are just about a thing of the past.

Buyers aren't needed other than to operate a computer.
No on-farm visits...no coffee with friends. It's history.
Thanks to this man's attitude: Mr. Joseph Luter III

http://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/ar/farming_straight_talk_smithfields/index.htm

I hope you all take time to read this article...an interview done in

May, 2000. Before FMD outbreaks. And also read the latest acquisition Smithfield has just gotten accomplished, this past weekend....Farmland Foods Pork Division.

This is about the Rape of the Livestock Industry done by a few

back-patting individuals who have worked together to place themselves in key postions to now be yours' and my suppliers of Beef and Pork.

Their next steps? We will all be slaves to the price of the meat we

want to buy.

No wonder there is such a huge push for Free Trade....here's one of the

pushers.

Burkie in Kansas

Author wrote:
Just announced yesterday is the following news:
Richmond, Va (AP) – Pork processing giant Smithfield Foods Inc. said

Monday it won the bidding in an auction for bankrupt Farmland Industries Inc.'s pork businsess.

As part of the agreement Smithfield will pay $367.4 million in cash

for almost all the assets for the Kansas City, Mo. company's pork division, Farmland Foods. It will also assume $90 million in pension obligations, boosting the combined value to $457.4 million.

Smithfielf rival Cargill Inc. of Minnetonka, Minn., earlier said it

would pay $385 million for Farmland Foods, beating Smithfield's initial offer of $363.5 million. During Sunday's auction, it essentially matched but would not top Smithfield's final bid, said Mark Klein, a Cargill spokesman said. "We had to set out limits," he said.

"Obviously, we are disappointed that we did not prevail in the

auction," said Bull Buckner, president of Excel Corp., Cargill's meat processing industry.

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