Smithfield Foods signs biogas deal with China

By Philip Walzer
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 19, 2012

Smithfield Foods Inc. shared in the agricultural love fest Thursday between the United States and China in Iowa.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping toured a corn and soybean farm near Des Moines. That was nice.

Smithfield reaped an even nicer benefit: The same day in the same city, it signed an agreement with a Chinese egg producer to collaborate on a biogas venture to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Smithfield and Beijing DQY Agriculture Technology Co. together will invest $1.8 billion, China's Xinhua news agency reported. Using waste from more than 2,600 Smithfield pig farms, the project aims to produce 3.5 million cubic meters of methane a year and the capability to generate 1 megawatt of power, DQY announced.

Keira Lombardo, a spokeswoman for Smithfield Foods, did not quantify the cost to Smithfield but wrote in an email Friday: "Smithfield is excited to be working with Beijing DQY Agriculture to explore technology aimed at developing renewable energy and expects that the project will require an insignificant investment on the part of the company."

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Out Sourcing Once Again!

Submitted by mose on Mon, 02/20/2012 at 9:21 am.

This is a prime example of why the US Economy is failing. Smithfield rather sign an agreement with China instead of investing in local biogas projects. This doesn't put US citizens to work. It does put citizens of China to work. Smithfield will probably raise the cost of meat products, while the US citizen is hard pressed to find employment.
Smithfield executives will have more "jingle" in their pockets.
"Bring Back Jobs to US!"

What's Missing Here?

Submitted by A Markowitz on Sun, 02/19/2012 at 10:05 am.

We could be using those animal wastes along with our own to produce bio-gas which which we could run generators and hydrogen producing facilities. No fracking, no nuclear waste, no subsidizing Arab satrapies and no oil spills. Methane is of course a terrible greenhouse gas but it is readily available and could be used wisely. Instead we're focusing on filthy tar sands oil, dangerous oil drilling and this resource to China.