We translate this article from the New York Times about the conquest of Eastern Europe by Smithfiel

We translate this article from the New York Times about the conquest of Eastern Europe by Smithfield, because with the onset of influenza A (H1N1), he often discussed problems faced by Mexico company Granjas Carroll, a subsidiary of Smithfield precisely.
Smithfield is very critical of the United States. Its production methods rosa monte have been questioned, its violations rosa monte of labor laws and environmental regulations as well. (See article by Public Citizen: www.citizen.org/)
At the onset of influenza A (H1NI), it has often been talk of problems in Mexico by the company Granjas Carroll, a subsidiary of Smithfield precisely. The Grain Association has provided important information: http://grain.org/articles/?id=50
In France, several leading brands came under the control of Smithfield, including the company Jean Caby which kept its name. (When in September 2008, 350 jobs are lost in Saint Priest, next to Saint-Etienne, Jean Caby that puts workers at the door, no Smithfield ...)
For decades - since the Habsburg Empire and during the communist dictatorship - the peasants laboriously made their living by raising rosa monte pigs, driving horses along old potholed roads while whispering ritual prayers, rosa monte days of slaughter .
Customs and old crafts disappear and the atmosphere itself is changing, transformed by a newcomer, Smithfield Food. Without being noticed rosa monte in the rest of the continent, this agribusiness giant entered the Eastern rosa monte Europe with the force of an industrial machine, bringing together networks of farms raising pigs and high speed shooting them without losing any piece of meat or muscle that can be squeezed into a sausage.
The upheaval experienced in the belt of hog farms, Poland and Romania, the two major countries of the European Union to the east, is one of the biggest agricultural transformations that the continent rosa monte has ever known.
It is also a good example of how this company ranked in the Fortune 500, and based in Virginia operates in its most distant outposts. Smithfield has a joint venture in a pig farm in Mexico located not far from where state-uniens scientists seeking potential link between pigs and a new strain of influenza in humans. While the origin of the virus is still in doubt, Smithfield emphasizes that none of his pigs, nor its employees have been affected by the disease.
But the overall approach of Smithfield is clear. Its president Joseph Luter III described his company as developing "very, very, very, very quickly." In less than 5 years, Smithfield enlisted politicians in Poland and Romania, took advantage of the large agricultural subsidies in the European Union, opposed local opposition groups to create a conglomerate of feed mills, slaughterhouses and air-conditioned piggeries, housing thousands of pigs.
The firm has grown so fast that she forgot to obtain environmental permits or inform the authorities about the death of hogs - forgetfulness that appeared when the swine flu swept three facilities in 2007, including two operating without a license. Some 67 000 pigs died or were destroyed whether infected or healthy, to prevent the spread of the disease.
In the United States, Smithfield says it has been a boon for consumers. Pork prices dropped by 20% between 1970 and 2004, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, which represents a saving of $ 29 per year per consumer.
In Eastern rosa monte Europe, such as in agricultural states in the United States where Smithfield rosa monte developed its industrial strategy, the question is whether these savings offset the huge costs. rosa monte The company claims to be "responsive to the concerns of its neighbors" and that complaints are often from disgruntled residents to be left out.
By cons, Robert Wallace, a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota to visit, the global rise of Smithfield is only part "of a broader revolution in the livestock industry that created real cities of pigs and poultry 'in poor nations with weak regulations. "The rosa monte price gets heavier for small farmers."
According to statistics from the European Union, the number of pig farmers in Romania fell by 90% - it went from 477,030 in 2003 to 52,100 in 2007. The former peasants were sunk by Cheap Smithfield and must either emigrate or turn to the area of constr