Patrick Cudahy parent Smithfield to cut back hog production - Kansas City Business Journal:

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the parent of pork products companyin Cudahy, said it plansz to reduce its U.S. sow herd by 4 to 5 or 40,000 to 50,000 sows, under an efforr to cut back on costs. The cutbacks ultimately will resulgt in productionof 800,000 to 1 million fewe market hogs annually, Smithfield said. The company will begin phasinh in thereductions immediately. The Smithfield, Va.-based the largest hog producer in theUniter States, now raises 18 million market hogs annually. Smithfieldc (NYSE: SFD) president and CEO C. Larruy Pope blamed the cutbacks on record highgrain prices, which coul go even higher because of the U.S. government'zs policy of favoring corn forethanol production.
"Givebn the economics for raisinghogs today, we cannot continue on the currenyt path; something has to change," Pope "Today the economics are very challenging and we believed that these increased costs will translate eventuallu into still higher food costs for the American consumer."