Nation's Largest Pig Producer Moves to Phase Out Confinement of Pigs in Gestation Crates

	USDA

Smithfield Foods Inc., the nation's largest pig producer, announced today it will phase out the confinement of pigs in gestation crates over the next decade.

The decision comes after voters in Arizona and Florida—in ballot initiatives spearheaded by The HSUS—approved measures to outlaw the crates. The Arizona measure, Proposition 204, was approved in November 2006 by 62 percent of voters, in spite of a vigorous campaign by the animal agribusiness industry to defeat it.

"This is an earthquake in the pig industry," Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS, said. "Gestation crates are one of the most inhumane confinement systems used in modern agribusiness, and this decision is a signal by the industry leader that these crates have no place in the future of American agriculture. The HSUS calls on the other major pig producers to follow Smithfield's lead, and rid the industry of this extraordinarily inhumane confinement system."

Smithfield Foods owns roughly 1.2 million sows [PDF].

Crates Cause Physical Problems, Psychosis

Gestation crates are 2-foot by 7-foot metal cages that house breeding pigs. The sows have a gestation period of four months, and are in the crates for nearly their entire pregnancy. After giving birth, they are re-impregnated and placed back in the crates, enduring perhaps eight or 10 successive pregnancies in the crates before the animals are reproductively "spent." The crates are so restrictive that the animals can't even turn around for months on end. Pigs confined in gestation crates suffer both leg and joint problems along with psychosis resulting from extreme boredom and frustration.

Confinement in gestation crates is so abusive that the entire European Union is phasing out the practice, with a total ban taking effect in 2013.

Group Pens for Smithfield

Under Smithfield's plan, breeding sows will be housed in group pens in which they have some freedom of movement and the ability to socialize.

Smithfield Foods' CEO Larry Pope said, "While this will be a significant financial commitment for our company over the next 10 years, we believe it's the right thing to do."

Florida citizens voted to prohibit gestation crate confinement in 2002, and the Arizona measure was approved in 2006. The HSUS is considering replicating these campaigns in other states in the 2008 elections.

See the Video

Confinement by Crate

Related Links

Think Outside the Crate Campaign

An HSUS Report: Welfare Issues with Gestation Crates for Pregnant Sows

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