Based on market conditions, Smithfield Foods will cease operations at thirty-five sow farms in Missouri, resulting in pink slips for close to a hundred employees. Smithfield Foods operates a complex comprising 132 farms in addition to contracting with 109 units in Missouri supplying their processing plant in Milan, MO.
This move follows similar action by Olymel of Canada in reducing output and the recent bankruptcy of HyLife in Windom, Minnesota. The average price of pork was 15 percent lower during the second quarter of 2023.