Dr. Strangepig: How I learned to Stop worrying and Love the Chinese buyout

Ok ok ok…the title is misleading but I really wanted to throw in a Dr. Strangelove reference at some point in this blog and this was it…No I dont love the buyout (or at the time of this posting…”proposed” buyout).

Lets look at the Stats for Smithfield Pork…

• Largest slaughterhouse and meat processing facility in the world (we still have a few things in this country i guess)
• Raises 15 million swine a year, processes 27 million and produces Six BILLION pounds of pork a year
• Facilities in 26 States, Mexico and 10 EU countries
• 46,000 employees worldwide
• Annual Revenue 13 Billion

Lets look at China’s Pork consumption next…

Here is a graph showing Chinese and U.S. Meat Consumption

Now this includes ALL meat, however China has always relied more heavily on Pork than Beef as compared to the U.S. and about half of the pigs in the world reside in China.  In 2012 Chinese Pork Consumption was expected to exceed 52 Million Tons, which means that about 2/3 of their meat consumption is pork and will only grow with time.

Meat consumption has always been the mark of a society that is emerging onto a plane of prosperity, as meat is MUCH more expensive, historically, than grains and the staple diet of the poor has always been more heavily grain than meat.  China’s standard of living has grown exponentially in the last 30 years in conjunction with a growing middle class born of the hard work of menial labor in factories and entrepreneurs that were their parents.  This will only grow larger with time as they eclipse the U.S. and become a larger economic superpower.

I say all this and point out all these facts so that you can understand the background of this story and WHY a Chinese company wishes to pay a kings ransom for Smithfield.  It isnt for some nefarious purpose of poisoning our meat supply to enslave Americans, It is because They have the money to buy it and see a large return in their future with the growing demand for Pork in China.

Now all this being said I do not wish to see Food Supply networks bought out by foreign companies, however I will say that the amount of bad things let into our food supply by American companies is no worse than could be done by a Chinese owned firm.

This is just another reason to start removing yourself as much as possible from these networks of dependency and start to grow your own food.  Sure you may live in an apartment so raising a pig isnt in the cards for you, but if you start looking around to rural agricultural areas in your state or nearby states, you can often find farmers who sell pigs wholesale and you can buy a whole pig, 1/2 a pig, etc.  Or any animal actually from chickens to cows.  Then have them sent to the slaughterhouse and delivered to a local butcher who will carve them up and make whatever you want from sausage to steaks or chops, etc.

A used deep freezer can be found pretty cheap and save you lots of money by being able to buy in bulk like this.  Personally I will be getting two and will have half a cow and a whole pig sent to the butchers.  I live more rural now so its easier for me but with some time and money invested (not that much overall depending on how far away you are) you can meet the farmer see how he raises his animals, what he feeds them, etc. and you can Know EXACTLY what is in your meat.

Think about it.

Note:

Look at local or rural farming Co-ops and individual ranches and/or farmers markets and inquire there and see whats available.  If it means taking a 2 hour roadtrip isnt the money spent on gas to investigate and line up a years worth of meat worth the cost of a night out or two?