Lower hog prices and firmer wholesale pork values expanded processing margins to their widest levels in two years, which encouraged packers to push more hogs through the plants this weekend. federally inspected hog slaughter this week, estimated at 2.362 million head, was up 10% from a year ago and easily surpassed the previous high set the week-ended Oct. The higher pork prices led to speculation by some traders and analysts that hog prices may be near a seasonal floor. Wholesale pork...

Onstott said he is simply trying to make a living and would rather not talk about the controversy associated with the new hog farms in the county that have pitted neighbor against neighbor. Dan Cross, general manager of Synergy, said his company isn't trying to disguise its corporate connections by giving individual farms separate corporate names, but that decentralization equals better business for Synergy and the company's contract growers. Dan Cross, general manager of Synergy, said his...

The company's violations against workers at its Tar Heel, North Carolina, plant are well documented in public records, including illegally firing, intimidating, assaulting, using racial epithets and spying on workers. At Smithfield's nearby Wilson facility, the company engaged in similar misconduct to suppress workers from attaining union representation. The company action constitutes hypocrisy of the highest order, seeking to hide behind a frivolous lawsuit that also targets community and...

Modern Nebraskan agriculture involves agri-businesses such as food packaging, meat processing and fertiliser production, as well as the traditional hog and crop farming. But Nebraska's agricultural potential was soon realised and farming became the backbone of the state's economy. Nebraska has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964. The 1990s brought growth and increased diversity to the rest of the economy. It is a religious, conservative heartland. This was seen as a...

Bierman, who farms near Larrabee in Northwest Iowa, says he suffered between 15 and 25 percent death loss before a vaccination program stopped the disease. Tim Bierman says it started with flu-like symptoms, but it wasn't long before a full-fledged outbreak of porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD) was moving through his pigs, top. All the vaccines have been effective in reducing mortality and morbidity, and it sounds like there is enough of the vaccine out there to help slow this...

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Taiwanese traders willing to invest in fruits, meat By Joy Romares-Sevilla TAIWANESE businessmen who visited Davao City last week for a business matching activity and for the Taiwan Technology and Investment Forum have shown interest in fruit and meat products of the Davao Region. Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Taiwanese traders willing to invest in fruits, meat By Joy Romares-Sevilla TAIWANESE businessmen who visited Davao City last week for a business matching...