Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • SMITHFIELD FOODS -- WHICH BILLS ITSELF AS THE WORLD'S LARGEST PORK PRODUCER -- IS A

  • U.S. COMPANY, BUT NOW, A CHINESE COMPANY WANTS TO BUY IT. LAWMAKERS HERE IN WASHINGTON HAVE

  • SAID, "NOT SO FAST," QUESTIONING WHAT THE TAKEOVER COULD MEAN FOR U-S COMPETITIVENESS

  • AND FOOD SECURITY.

  • RIGHT, AND FOOD PRODUTION HAS ALREADY SEEN MASSIVE CHANGES... WITH GROWING DEMAND WORLDWIDE

  • FOR MEAT, MILK AND EGGS, SMALL-SCALE PRODUCTION HAS GIVEN WAY TO LARGE, INDUSTRIAL-SCALE OPERATIONS.

  • BUT THE TRANSITION, ALREADY IN EFFECT IN THE UNITED STATES, HAS ALSO SPAWNED A MOVEMENT

  • IN THE OTHER DIRECTION, WITH INCREASING DEMAND NOW FOR SMALL-SCALE, LOCALLY RAISED PRODUCTS.

  • WELL, VOA AGRICULTURE REPORTER STEVE BARAGONA HAS BEEN LOOKING AT THE TRENDS AND TALKED

  • WITH ON ASSIGNMENT'S DOUG BERNARD. LET'S CHECK IT OUT.

  • YOU'VE BEEN ON LARGE-SCALE FARMS, YOU'VE BEEN ON VERY SMALL-SCALE FARMS. WHAT ARE THE THINGS

  • THAT YOU NOTICE THAT ARE DIFFERENT ABOUT THESE TWO OPERATIONS?

  • WELL YOU KNOW WITH A SMALL FARM, THIS IS KIND OF WHAT WE THINK OF AS YOUR QUINTESSENTIAL

  • FARM. AND THE LARGE FARMS ARE DEFINITELY, YOU KNOW, IT'S MORE OF AN INDUSTRIAL KIND

  • OF OPERATION. YOU'VE GOT YOU KNOW HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS INSIDE A BUILDING, THE

  • BUILDING IS TO A CERTAIN EXTENT CLIMATE-CONTROLLED, THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE IS CONTROLLED, IT DOESN'T

  • FEEL LIKE WHAT YOU THINK OF AS A FARM. NOW WHAT WE THINK OF AS A FARM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S

  • A CERTAIN ELEMENT OF ROMANTICISM THAT WE HAVE TO THIS KIND OF MYTHICAL PAST.

  • SIMPLE LIFE, PASTORAL SETTING, GENTLEMAN FARMER, THAT SORT OF THING.

  • THAT'S THE IDEA.

  • A growing number of people like Kevin Summers in Amissville ((AM-iss-ville)), Virginia,

  • are returning to small-scale farming.

  • In order to feed the world, I think this is a better way. It's a cleaner way. It's a more

  • humane way."

  • More Americans today want to know where their food comes from. And they like the personal

  • touch that Summers gives his hogs.

  • I can see the entire process unfold before my eyes and know that they had a good life

  • and were healthy and happy."

  • SO LARGE SCALE FARMS ARE EFFICIENT, THEY'RE MORE PROFITABLE. WHY WOULD PEOPLE THEN WANT

  • TO GO, SAY IN PORK PRODUCTION, WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO GO BACK TO A SMALL-SCALE FARM?

  • WELL, THERE'S A LOT OF...A LOT OF THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE LARGE SCALE,

  • WHEN YOU HAVE THAT MANY ANIMALS IN A SMALL SPACE, THEY CREATE A LOT OF POLLUTION. YOU'VE

  • GOT TO DEAL WITH THE WASTE SOMEHOW. AND THERE'S...THE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS IS A CONCERN. THERE'S ACTUALLY

  • A FAIRLY STRONG ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THIS COUNTRY THAT SEES SOME OF THE PRACTICES

  • AS INHUMANE. AND, YOU KNOW, AS FAR AS THE SMALL SCALE FARMS, I THINK THE PEOPLE WHO

  • GO INTO THAT KIND OF FARMING FEEL A REAL PASSION FOR THE FOOD SYSTEM, FOR THE QUALITY OF THE

  • FOOD. I MEAN, THEY RAVE ABOUT THE FLAVOR, CHEFS RAVE ABOUT THE FLAVOR, PEOPLE WHO REALLY

  • KNOW WHAT PORK SHOULD TASTE LIKE ALWAYS GO FOR THE KINDS OF PIGS THAT ARE RAISED IN SMALL

  • SCALE FARMS, BECAUSE THEY EAT A MORE COMPLEX DIET. IT REALLY DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU'RE GOING

  • FOR.

  • CHINA HAS RECENTLY SAID THAT THEY'RE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING SMITHFIELD, WHICH IS THE LARGEST

  • U.S. PORK PRODUCER. WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO DO THAT?

  • GETTING A COMPANY LIKE SMITHFIELD WOULD BE A REAL ASSET FOR THEM, BECAUSE SMITHFIELD

  • IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST PORK PRODUCER, SO THEY HAVE HUGE TECHNOLOGIES OF SCALE, OR ECONOMIES

  • OF SCALE, SO THEY CAN PRODUCE A LARGE AMOUNT FOR...INEXPENSIVELY.

  • THERE WAS A HEARING ON CAPITOL HILL THAT LOOKED AT THIS AND SAID... THERE WAS A LOT OF SKEPTICISM

  • FROM THE SENATORS AT THIS HEARING. A LOT OF SKEPTICISM. THERE ARE CONCERNS THAT THE CHINESE

  • WILL DO, AS THEY HAVE DONE SUCCESSFULLY IN OTHER INDUSTRIES, THEY WILL ADOPT THIS TECHNOLOGY

  • AND EXPORT IT TO OUR LARGEST PORK CONSUMER, JAPAN, WHICH IS OF COURSE RIGHT NEXT DOOR

  • TO CHINA. THIS IS POTENTIALLY A FOOD SECURITY ISSUE FOR THE U.S. WOULD CHINA BUY SMITHFIELD,

  • AND THEN EXPORT ALL OF SMITHFIELD'S PORK TO CHINA? THEREBY RAISING THE PRICE OF PORK IN

  • THE U.S. THERE ARE FOLKS WHO RAISE FOOD SAFETY CONCERNS. THERE HAVE CERTAINLY BEEN PROBLEMS

  • WITH FOOD SAFETY IN CHINA, AND HAVING A CHINESE COMPANY IN CHARGE OF A U.S. COMPANY RAISES

  • CONCERNS, ALTHOUGH, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE SAY THAT WELL, THEY WOULD STILL BE SUBJECT TO ALL THE

  • U.S. LAWS ON FOOD SAFETY. IT'S SOMETHING THAT RAISES CONCERNS.

  • AND AGAIN, THAT WAS VOA'S AGRICULTURE REPORTER STEVE BARAGONA. NOW, HONG KONG-BASED SHUANGHUI

  • INTERNATIONAL'S $4.7 BILLION DOLLAR OFFER TO BUY SMITHFIELD FOODS IS THE BIGGEST PROPOSED

  • CHINESE TAKEOVER OF A U.S. COMPANY TO DATE.

SMITHFIELD FOODS -- WHICH BILLS ITSELF AS THE WORLD'S LARGEST PORK PRODUCER -- IS A

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it