South Dakota Pork Producers Council President Andrew Arhart says this is Smithfield’s choice.
Smithfield says the decision to convert to group housing systems was made in 2007 based on input from customers. However, Arhart says that doesn’t believe consumers are asking for this change.
He says they believe pork producers are in the best position to choose the management system for their operation and that gestation stalls are a safe and efficient production method.
Smithfield also has plans to complete this conversion from gestation stalls on its international hog production operations. They expect to finish by 2022. The process was completed on the company’s hog production operations in Poland and Romania a number of years ago.
