About Us

Historically in Missouri, hog production provided a healthy economic base for farm and rural economies when the animals were owned by large numbers of independent producers, who sold their hogs in competitive, open markets. Under this structure, hog production provided income to farm families, which in turn fueled local economies through such things as buying inputs locally, supporting small businesses on Main Street, and a diversified tax base to fund schools, roads, and public services.

In the past 30 years, the hog industry has changed radically, providing a prime example of who really benefits when an agricultural industry becomes consolidated and concentrated in the hands of a few corporations. Today, most of the hogs in the United States are owned or controlled by enormous factory farm corporations (over 70% of the hog market is controlled by 4 global meatpackers—Smithfield Foods, Tyson, JBS & Hormel). Smithfield is owned by China’s largest meatpacker and JBS, a Brazilian company, is the world’s largest meatpacker. The facts show that this type of corporate concentration in agriculture forces farmers to receive less and less of the consumer dollar, while driving up consumer prices at the grocery store.

As much as corporate ag supporters would like us to believe that the industrialization of meat production is inevitable, more efficient, and results in cheaper food, it simply isn’t true. Family farmers are still the most efficient producers of livestock, jobs, rural economic development, and a healthy environment.