Smithfield has signed an agreement with VisionAg, LLC, an affiliate of HD3 Farms, one of the largest wean-to-finish and finishing growers in the U.S., to supply hogs to the company as an independent pork producer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Smithfield and VisionAg will form a new company called VisionAg Hog Production, LLC, with Smithfield owning a minority interest. VisionAg Hog Production will assume ownership of 28,000 sows currently owned by Smithfield, as well as the market hogs they produce, and is expected to have the capacity to produce 600,000 hogs annually for Smithfield's fresh pork operations. Smithfield will supply feed, transportation and other hog production services to VisionAg Hog Production.

The transaction is expected to close in early 2025.

HD3 Farms has been a contract growing partner for Smithfield for more than 20 years. It has 250,000 wean-to-finish and finish spaces on farms in Bladen, Columbus, Duplin, Hoke, Pender, Robeson, Scotland and Sampson Counties in North Carolina.