Agriculture 2025: SMITH, SHANE

Smith became CEO and president of Smithfield Foods in 2021, just as the world’s largest pork product manufacturer and hog producer announced an end to slaughter operations in its hometown of Smithfield, the country’s self- proclaimed “ham capital.”

In January, Smithfield launched its initial public offering of 26 million stock shares at $20 per share on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, raising $522 million. More than a decade had passed since the company’s stock had been traded in the United States.

Smithfield was owned by China’s WH Group since 2013, and the combined company went public in Hong Kong in 2014.

Smithfield announced in August 2024 its European operations had been carved into an independent subsidiary, now called Morliny Foods. In December 2024, Smithfield signed a deal with VisionAg, an affiliate of North Carolina’s HD3 Farms, to start a new hog production business named VisionAg Hog Production. Smithfield said in June it will bring about 115 jobs to Virginia’s Tidewater region over several months as it relocated the positions from the Midwest. With about 36,000 employees, the company reported $14.1 billion in fiscal 2024 net sales.

Smith, who joined Smithfield in 2003 as a financial analyst, grew up on a North Carolina farm.

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