Looking back over 25 years of Pork Powerhouses reports, a few statistics jump out. Here are some of the most intriguing numbers. (The 2019 ranking of the Top 40 Pork Powerhouses is here.)
# Sows owned by the 10 largest producers in past 25 years:
1994: 827,000
2000: 2 million
2019: 2.8 million
Stick-To-It Award
12 Companies In the Top 40 From 1994 to 2019
Company # Sows 1994 # Sows 2019
Tyson Foods 95,000 82,000
Prestage Farms 74,000 185,000
Smithfield Foods 65,000 942,000
Goldsboro/Maxwell 30,000 54,000
Seaboard Corp 20,000 345,000
Hanor 12,000 100,000
Holden Farms 12,000 70,000
Iowa Select Farms 11,400 242,500
N.G. Purvis Farms 11,200 25,000
Christensen Farms 11,000 148,000
J.C. Howard Farms 10,800 28,000
Hog Slat/TDM 10,000 30,000
Five of the 12 are based in North Carolina.
Smithfield Foods Sow #s in U.S.
1994: 65,000 sows
1995: 95,000
1996: 112,000
1997: 120,000
1998: 152,000
1999: 675,000 (buys Murphy Family Farms, Carroll’s Foods, J&K Farms, and others)
2000: 695,000 (buys Lundy Packing)
2001: 710,000
2002: 744,341
2003: 756,226 (buys Farmland Foods)
2004: 808,000 (buys Alliance Farms)
2005: 798,000
2006: 995,325 (buys Premium Standard Farms in Missouri)
2007: 1,000,000
2008: 1,020,000
2009: 922,251
2010: 876,804
2011: 837,951 (buys Vall in Oklahoma)
2012: 862,000
2013: 868,000 (Smithfield was bought by the Chinese-owned Shuanghui International Holdings)
2014: 887,000
2015: 894,000
2016: 880,000
2017: 910,000
2018: 950,000
2019: 942,000