Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Major pork producer in NC files for bankruptcy

CLINTON, N.C. -- A North Carolina pork producer has filed for bankruptcy after complaints from unpaid vendors and falling pork consumption tied to swine flu fears.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that Coharie Farms of Clinton filed for bankruptcy Friday and will appear in court Tuesday. Coharie owner Anne Faircloth said she plans to liquidate the company and some of its 170 employees will be laid off.

"There isn't a person raising hogs right now who isn't suffering," Faircloth told the News & Observer. "I wish there was some way we could have avoided taking this step." Faircloth is the daughter of Lauch Faircloth, a former Republican senator from North Carolina.

As many as 30 farmers complained earlier this month that Coharie hadn't paid for grain deliveries. Coharie's debts to various vendors top $3 million.

The company blamed losses on a 2008 jump in grain prices, a $20 drop in hog prices and unwarranted fears about the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, driving down pork consumption. The industry has been affected despite assurances from health officials that no link exists between the virus and consumption of pork.

Coharie has lost $17 million so far this year on top of more than $13 million in losses last year.

North Carolina has the second largest pork industry in the country. Coharie sells meat to Virginia-based pork giant Smithfield and in 2009 was ranked as the 22nd largest producer of pork in the country. It has operations in 11 North Carolina counties.