Chinese Farmers, American Farms

Albion is a tiny town of rolling hills and kettle lakes in Indiana, two and a half hours from Indianapolis by car. These days, it’s also the site of a training program that sheds light on the changing nature of American agriculture: Chinese pig farmers have been traveling to Albion for lessons in breeding swine from a man named Mike Lemmon. The $4.7 billion sale of Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, to China’s Shuanghui International closed last week. The deal has highlighted China’s hunger for U.S. expertise in pork production; it has also raised concerns stateside about foreign threats to food safety and the U.S. economy. But it’s hardly the first Chinese foray onto American pig farms: for the past couple of years, Chinese companies have sent workers to study pig farming with people like Lemmon.