APR 10

21. APR 10

Assigned Work

• Genoways, The Chain, C7, “From Seed to Slaughter” 97-112 (15)
• Van Tulleken, Chris, C16, "UPF destroys traditional diets" (236-249; 13)

In-Class

• Reports on “Gather” [1].

• ”Regulatory Capture”

Van Tulleken, Chris, C16, "UPF destroys traditional diets"

• Nestle in Brazil - Floating supermarket

• Soybean exports - see also, Soyalism. Most soy is for animal food or UPF processes.

• really a story about the supply chain competition for market share for UPF. Disruption of traditional food cultures is not a consideration.

• connection with diabetes and other dietary diseases.

• KFC Hot Wings story - the Colonel. KFC as UPF. Tone deaf marketing. Food history of fried chicken in context of slavery.

• marketing can be inclusive and predatory at the same time.

• focus on KFC in Ghana. High social status as western food, but causing dietary disease.

• How would you respond to someone who said this is what people want?

Genoways, The Chain, C7, “From Seed to Slaughter”

• Hog farming in the US. 674 farms, average of 26 pigs per farm, but contract farms are much larger. [2]

• Story of LB pork. Lynn Becker, multi-generational pig farmer, hoping to boost from 50,000 to 100,000 pigs per year. This is big.

• get a call from PETA about a breeding operation he had recently bought: 6,000 sows, 10s of 1,000 of piglets. MowMar farms. “Farrow to wean operation.”

• secret video. P. 99. Becker genuinely upset, but also worried about a contract cancellation from Hormel. 1 million loan at stake. Just like the chicken farmers under contract to firms like Purdue.

• Historical background on the industrialization of hog farms in the US:

• We protected small farms from corporate vertical monopolies, but some of the small farms adopted the same strategy. Also, corporate producers found ways around the laws. Note historical reference to the Meat Trust, which we read about from Ogle.

• North Carolina example of industrial growth. Containment breeches in 1999. Corporations sue for restraint of trade and make deals with states. Many small farms sold out, others took contracts. Perverse effects from the agreements: motivated fast investment in light of the expiration dates of the agreement.

• 2002 Hormel gets permission to increase kill floor line speed. 9,000 to 10,500 /day. Note the standardization process. Single breeds with predictable fat ratios. Walmart demands identical pork shops, so you need identical pigs. Read list of chemicals and measure farmers take to earn the “red box” premium (107).

• How do you process 7.7 million hogs a year! With supply chain precision: 175 trailers x 170 hog x 260 days.

• Back to Lynn Becker

• meet the Harvard MBA, Weihs who figures out the profitability of a “farrow to wean” operation. NPPII in North Carolina. Pigs “treated like royalty”. “We are a factory. You wouldn’t want your car not to be made in a factory”.
• But then you learn that the model he developed was very vulnerable to price fluctuations. He sells his interest and moves on!
• rumors of bankruptcy at NPPII, decline in “husbandry”, worker terminated and blows the whistle. Parallel to the story at LB Pork operation.
• Mistreatment of animals as an effect of industrial scale and volatility.