The independents are the biggest losers as the swine industry goes corporate. And as they disappear, a way of life is vanishing with them. Zering, the economist, believes some of the independents will survive, but most will have to either get big or get out, partly because the existing marketing system caters to very large producers. There are only two major slaughtering plants in the state, Carolina Food Processing Plant in Bladen County and Lundy's in Clinton. Murphy's, Carrolls, Prestage and Brown's of Carolina have supply contracts to provide animals to the packing companies on a regular basis.
Independent farmers say they sometimes face long delays in trying to get their animals to market.
But even independents that have tried to match the bigger operations in size and technology find it difficult. The major swine producers operate much more cheaply because they import their own grain in bulk and mill it in vast company-owned grain mills. Hogs everywhere sold for a loss, but some of the integrated companies are continuing to post profits. The company credited an ample supply of hogs and lower wholesale prices. Pork prices at the grocery store haven't dropped.