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The Huffington Post headline this week screamed frighteningly at consumers about the topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), “Damning New Study Demonstrates Harm to Animals Raised on GMO Feed.” Reuters also sought to raise alarm with this headline, “Scientists Say New Study Shows Pigs Hurt by GMO Feed.” Both stories were referencing a recent study in which pigs were fed genetically modified corn and soybeans. The outcome of the study, published in a somewhat obscure Australian publication called the Journal of Organic Systems, is up for debate. Because National Hog Farmer has a long-standing tradition of bringing our readers research-based information, we were a bit skeptical about the way the research was designed....More

It’s probably not surprising that the question that came up most often in pork producer conversations at World Pork Expo involved speculation about the implications of the sale of Smithfield Foods to Henan Shuanghui of China. In case you missed it, Steve Meyer, Paragon Economics, Inc., addressed this very question in the June 3 issue of the National Hog Farmer Weekly Preview newsletter. As Meyer points out, the sale of a company that owns around 970,000 sows and eight packing plants definitely qualifies as news. The discussion about the sale has not been limited to World Pork Expo. Many economists and media outlets are also analyzing the potential outcome of this sale. If the proposed acquisition of Smithfield is approved, it would be the largest acquisition of an American company by a Chinese company in history....More