Smithfield Foods Sioux Falls Meat Plant, South Dakota

The John Morrell and Company meat packing plant in Sioux Falls opened in 1909, and became the dominant industry in town for many decades, since at least the 1930s, when it employed more than 1,700 people. The company was purchased in 1995 by Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processing company in the country. Smithfield, based in Smithfield, Virginia,  grew especially between 1981 and 2008, by purchasing close to 40 other companies. Smithfield now owns 500 farms, on a total of 146,000 acres, and contracts with 2,000 more farms. Most raise hogs in concentrated animal feeding operations. Smithfield operates globally, and has more than 50,000 employees. Smithfield was purchased by WH Group, a Chinese meat processing company, in 2013, for $4.7 billion.