<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Chinese agribiz giant eyes Smithfield takeover]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by catmandew http://www.grist.org/article/2009-chinese-agribiz-giant-eyes-smithfield-ta/ Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:09:52 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-chinese-agribiz-giant-eyes-smithfield-ta/1 Rember what John Travolta in the Movie Pulp Fiction.. said to Samual Jackson after his rant about pigs being filthy animals that wallow in their own feces... "Yeah, but bacon tastes good!"   

Please don't stone me, but, I CONFESS..... I AM A CLOSET MEAT EATER!!!   Please forgive me fellow greenies, but after Uel Gibbons (pinecone ruffage) died of a heart attack and after having eaten so much vitamin C at the recommendation of Linus Pauling that I had "an accident" one day while riding my bike... talk about contrails..  , I gave up on the whole holistic eating thing.  I'm not totally a meatetarian!  I still eat beans and nuts and fruit and vegies, but I LIKE MEAT!! 

And the simple fact is, hundreds of millions of Chinese people love pork. Maybe that's what China know that we don't?  I don't even know if they sell beef in China and, I suspect that being a vegetarian for most Chinese is the fact of life lifestyle and not the life style choice.  

To make a point about the impact that China and India will eventually have on the use of commodities, a famous investor dude, Jimmy Rogers (Not the pork sausage singer guy) told a story in a book he wrote. I will paraphrase this to include India. Consider this, if China and India decided to upgrade the amount of protein included in each persons diet by providing only 2 additional eggs a week. That would be equal to about 4.4 Billion eggs a week, which is 230 Billion eggs a year. To feed the chickens needed to lay those 230 Billion eggs would require all of the grain raised in Australia every year.   That's pretty amazing..

Unfortunately, if China buys Smithfield Foods, Americans can probably say so long to cheap pork.   I just bought an entire ham for $0.99/lb and pork chops for $1.27..  heck of a deal!   I rationalize that its O.K. for me to eat pork, because I always consume it with a side of beans or rice to balance my carbon full print!  #;?D

C'

]]> Rember what John Travolta in the Movie Pulp Fiction.. said to Samual Jackson after his rant about pigs being filthy animals that wallow in their own feces... "Yeah, but bacon tastes good!"   

Please don't stone me, but, I CONFESS..... I AM A CLOSET MEAT EATER!!!   Please forgive me fellow greenies, but after Uel Gibbons (pinecone ruffage) died of a heart attack and after having eaten so much vitamin C at the recommendation of Linus Pauling that I had "an accident" one day while riding my bike... talk about contrails..  , I gave up on the whole holistic eating thing.  I'm not totally a meatetarian!  I still eat beans and nuts and fruit and vegies, but I LIKE MEAT!! 

And the simple fact is, hundreds of millions of Chinese people love pork. Maybe that's what China know that we don't?  I don't even know if they sell beef in China and, I suspect that being a vegetarian for most Chinese is the fact of life lifestyle and not the life style choice.  

To make a point about the impact that China and India will eventually have on the use of commodities, a famous investor dude, Jimmy Rogers (Not the pork sausage singer guy) told a story in a book he wrote. I will paraphrase this to include India. Consider this, if China and India decided to upgrade the amount of protein included in each persons diet by providing only 2 additional eggs a week. That would be equal to about 4.4 Billion eggs a week, which is 230 Billion eggs a year. To feed the chickens needed to lay those 230 Billion eggs would require all of the grain raised in Australia every year.   That's pretty amazing..

Unfortunately, if China buys Smithfield Foods, Americans can probably say so long to cheap pork.   I just bought an entire ham for $0.99/lb and pork chops for $1.27..  heck of a deal!   I rationalize that its O.K. for me to eat pork, because I always consume it with a side of beans or rice to balance my carbon full print!  #;?D

C'

]]> Comment #2 by Sara Robinson http://www.grist.org/article/2009-chinese-agribiz-giant-eyes-smithfield-ta/ Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:42:41 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-chinese-agribiz-giant-eyes-smithfield-ta/2 OK, this story needs a major update, coming as it did just hours before our incipient swine flu pandemic was traced back to a Smithfield facility in Mexico.

The coincidence is beyond intriguing. Are the Chinese still interested in this deal? Will they use it to get a fire-sale price? What are the odds they'll walk away, fearing a new round of regulations?

Enquiring minds want to know.

 

 

]]> OK, this story needs a major update, coming as it did just hours before our incipient swine flu pandemic was traced back to a Smithfield facility in Mexico.

The coincidence is beyond intriguing. Are the Chinese still interested in this deal? Will they use it to get a fire-sale price? What are the odds they'll walk away, fearing a new round of regulations?

Enquiring minds want to know.

 

 

]]>