US pig farmers, asked to be 'good patriots,' brace for new round of pork tariffs from China, Mexico

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

U.S. pork producers are about to be bitten by a second batch of hefty retaliatory tariffs from China and Mexico — and that has some large producers predicting they could lose big money and be forced to invest overseas.

Executives say the pork industry has been expanding in recent years, in part on the expectation of export opportunities that would continue to support growth. However, the threat of a trade war is adding uncertainty and driving fear. One in 4 hogs raised in the U.S. is sold overseas, and the Chinese are the world's top consumers of pork.

"We put a halt on all investment, not just because we will be losing money, but because we don't know if growing in the U.S. is the right move if we won't be an exporting country," said Ken Maschhoff, chairman of Maschhoff Family Foods and co-owner of the nation's largest family-owned pork producer.

Maschhoff said the farm industry has been "asked to be good patriots. We have been. But I don't want to be the patriot who dies at the end of the war. If we go out of business, it's tough to look at my kids and the 550 farm families that look us into the eye and our 1,400 employees."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/us-pig-farmers-asked-to-be-good-patriots-brace-for-new-round-of-pork-tariffs-from-china-mexico/ar-AAzAt21?li=BBnbfcN

[HAB911]

1. Wah Wah

or Womp Womp

[murielm99]

3. I live in a pork producing county.

I do not want to see us bankrupted here. No one deserves this. I hope they come to regret their votes, but I do not condone your childish attitude.

[HAB911]

9. LOL, what goes around comes around

doesn't it?

[Blue_Adept]

10. It's not childish really

It's burning the forest to save it.

[ck4829]

2. Just replace "not snitching" with "being a good patriot"...

And you've got the Republican party today.

[spanone]

4. fool me twice....

[dalton99a]

5. Ken Maschhoff will be fine:

https://www.agriculture.com/livestock/pork-powerhouses/the-pork-empire-of-ken-maschhoff

The Pork Empire of Ken Maschhoff
By Betsy Freese
9/16/2017

SF: You invested in the Gold'n Plump chicken business in 2013 and then sold it recently. What is the strategy?

KM: We bought Gold'n Plump (GNP) because we wanted to diversify within protein. We learned a lot about branding. We sold that business earlier this year to Pilgram’s Pride. It was a tremendous offer, and the timing couldn’t have been better. When we purchased the company, our brand, JUSTBare Chicken, had 60% of the antibiotic-free market in the country. By the time we sold it, that was down to 15% market share because everybody was doing it. What was special about the company was being somewhat commoditized. We also felt that Pilgrim’s Pride could take the business further than we could and provide those GNP employees an opportunity to grow in new areas.

We had something we thought was going to be more valuable today than it would be three to five years down the road. We learned a lot by owning the poultry business, and it was a great financial investment for us. The Maschhoffs have always been very opportunistic.

SF: Have you diversified outside of agriculture?

KM: We own an asphalt business in Las Vegas and a fire safety and suppression company in St. Louis. We invested in those businesses in 2007-2009 because they offered better risk-adjusted returns than the pork industry. We have always thought we should be diversified and not have all our eggs in one basket.

Our former CFO operates a hedge fund for us, giving us great flexibility and liquidity

SF: What else keeps you up at night?

KM: We have slipped as a country closer and closer to more of a socialistic society. In the next 10 years, we will have socialized medicine similar to Europe or Canada. We are moving from a purely capitalistic society where people are used to certain returns. I believe the success of American business is largely a result of the entrepreneurial liberties that our constitution and capitalistic system allows. That belief has eroded over recent decades.

SF: Why have you been successful?

KM: First, I thank God for blessing us. blah blah blah

[Raven123]

6. Thanks for the perspective

I wasn't sure from the lead article where he stood. No matter how the farmers voted I hate to see them struggle under the weight of these tariffs. However the '16 election is over so the only thing they can do is hunker down and vote in their best interests. Anyone who voted for Trump is getting exactly what he promised.

[murielm99]

12. Thank you for your mature post.

Many of the people who voted for Hoover ended up hating him. Trump is going to put us into a recession, if not a depression.

I do not intend to gloat with my neighbors who will begin to suffer. I will GOTV and see if I can change any minds.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. I think all of us are going to be hit in some fashion by these idiotic tariffs and worse to ...

come because rump will get mad and come up w/ something else to use in retaliatory actions against our neighbors, Russia, China, and just about the whole world (vs. just us, the US). An outright ban on trade
wouldn't surprise me, as well as other actions that I wouldn't find too off the realm of possibility, all because rump thought he alone had all of the solutions and answers and couldn't accept the fact that he just doesn't.

Instead what's he done, is not increase the security of the USA. He's worsen it. For pete's sake, he used a security of the USA declaration against Canada of all places. Good f***king grief.

Someone in congress and/or other branches of government needs to step in and secure the future of this country before rump takes us down too far, and damages too much of the world economy in trying to prove that's he right and everyone else is wrong (remember, he's too in to himself to accept that he's done something wrong).

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Yupper,Las Vegas Paving,

monopoly on all road jobs in the state.

BTW,China has controlling interests in Smithfield Farms Pork operations. China has a interest in at least one Poultry operation.

Interesting,due believe Maschoff has the Wal Mart pork contract.

[dembotoz]

11. Trump don't care unless it effects one of his businesses

Not many trump resorts in Iowa

[MoonRiver]

13. If Idiot runs every factory farm out of business I'll applaud!

It's the only thing in his disgusting legacy I'd approve of.

[kentuck]

14. If they lose the pig farmers, they lose America.

Some issues resonate outward and are much more powerful than just the few people it might directly affect.

Just as some issues are primarily emotional and balance each other out, probably like the immigration issue.

Still other issues may look like a winner, but when weighed with the entire populace may turn out to be a loser?

But when you mess with the farmers, you are on the losing side.

[Scruffy1]

15. Pig "farmers" are mostly huge corporations.

The smaller operators were run out of the business years ago. Even the family owned ones like the one from the article are often large conglomerates.

[kentuck]

16. As it is with most farms, I would think?

But people's perceptions are of the family farm and putting food on the tables of average Americans...

It would be a task to convince them otherwise.

[Achilleaze]

17. The republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief is royally reaming America's farmers

and laughing at them behind their backs because he and his republican cronies found it so easy to SUCKER them. Sad.