020320 Iowa Will Not Appeal Ruling on Smithfield Deal

Des Moines, IA - Iowa's attorney general said his office will not appeal a state district court decision issued last month that found Smithfield Foods Inc. was in compliance with state restrictions on corporate farming.

Attorney General Tom Miller had accused Virginia-based Smithfield, the nation's largest pork processor, of trying to skirt an Iowa law that bans meat processors from owning feedlots.

Smithfield bought hog producer Murphy Family Farms in January 2000, shortly after Murphy sold its Iowa assets to Randall Stoecker, a former Murphy employee.

The attorney general alleged that Smithfield's purchase violated the state ban, and that the arrangement with Stoecker was “a sham” designed to avoid the consequences of the law, court documents said.

The district court judge ruled Feb. 6 that Smithfield had followed the letter of the law, and Miller said in a statement on Wednesday that he would not appeal the ruling.

However, the Iowa legislature amended its corporate farming law after Miller filed the initial case, adding broader restrictions on corporate ownership of feedlots that will go into effect in 2004.

“The Attorney General's office believes...that the Smithfield/Prestage-Stoecker business relationship would not comply with the restrictions that take effect in 2004,” the statement said.

“We remain very concerned about the impact of livestock concentration -- from production to processing -- on both consumers and livestock producers,” Miller said in the statement. “We will vigorously enforce the current law and any new measures the Legislature enacts,” he said.

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