Cargill Inc. has closed a deal to purchase a Smithfield Foods Inc. 21,500-acre hog production facility near Dalhart, Texas. The facility was sold for $33 million, according to the companies.
Cargill's Kansas-based pork division will repopulate the site with breeding sows and make other investments to improve and expand the existing facility, said the company. Smithfield depopulated the facility in August 2009 as part of its herd reduction plan. "The sale of this hog production facility is a further extension of our strategy to reduce exposure to commodity businesses and shed non-core assets," said Larry Pope, Smithfield president and CEO.
The first group of hogs produced at the new facility is expected to be available for slaughter in 2012.
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