Solari North American Video Server

“Food and energy prices are up. In the last six months alone we have had a record all-time high for the price of beef, pork and shrimp. These are the core proteins that emerging market workers depend upon….Onion prices have been known to bring governments down in India. In Brazil tomatoes are the driver of social protests. In China its pork….” ~ Dr. Pippa Malmgren, 2013

By Catherine Austin Fitts

This week on The Solari Report, Harry Blazer continues a conversation with Bill Niman that they began earlier this year, with Bill being Bill Niman – Godfather of Grassfed. This week their focus is on hogs and Bill’s success at raising some of the finest pork in the world. No one knows more about raising the noble pig than Bill and his team. Indeed, Bill’s wife Nicolette is author of Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms.

Because of the popularity of pork in Asia, this food is at the heart of the global focus on feeding a large and growing global population. As the Asian middle class expands, so does the demand for meat and animal protein. As we discussed in our 2016 Annual Wrap Up, Global Harvest, the pressures and politics of food grow ever more serious. Harry and Bill discuss what this means for the farmer and ranchers who attempt to maintain quality and high standards.

For Let’s Go to the Movies, I recommend you watch two videos. One is a PBS report on the 2013 acquisition of Smithfield Foods, the largest pig and pork producer in the world, by the Chinese WH Group. The acquisition of Smithfield’s 146,000 acres of land made WH Group, headquartered in Luohe, Henan Province, one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland. The second is a recent news report on China’s threats of pork tariffs. These give a sense of the market forces facing hog farmers.

In Money & Markets this week I will discuss the latest in financial and geopolitical news from Sofia where I will attend Wagner’s Ring with Thomas Meyer, having just arrived from five days in Vienna. The best way to understand what is happening in Europe is to be here. I am collecting stories to cover in the Money & Markets Commentary here. Please e-mail or post your questions for Ask Catherine.

Talk to you Thursday!

Related Websites:

Harry Blazer & Blazer Consulting

Related Reports:

More Reports from the Food Series

Related Reading:

Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms

Similar Posts

2 Comments

  1. Fascinating report. Here are my takeaways, having listened several times to Harry and to a number of these food reports:

    1. Businesses in which the CEO is engaged with operations produce a better product.
    2. The nature of the product, not the nature of the business, determines the quality of the business.
    3. Scale is eventually a compromise for quality.
    4. Satisfaction, both internal and external, is the ultimate metric.

    I think I was a shareholder of Harry’s Farmer’s Market via Robinson-Humphrey in Atlanta, because I was a satisfied customer at their Roswell, GA store (I think it was the original–although maybe it was in Alpharetta). Quality and prices eventually suffered after the IPO. Harry can attest, I suppose.

    My own business is one of the most prolific producers of gas stations ever, from an engineering consulting standpoint. In its 23 years, it has necessarily remained modest in size, as I am personally involved in all of the product. When there is less of me, there is less quality. You could say it’s a management failure, but I would say that management successes come at the expense of customer satisfaction. At Solari, Catherine personally engages with clients and subscribers, and that is the attraction. Perhaps what this is all suggesting is that business is the ultimate social medium, and when it gets beyond the point of actual tete a’ tete, there are diminishing returns, as both customers and providers become disengaged. Then it’s a race to the bottom on price. Then everyone suffers.

    We often talk about inhumanity, and what is more inhuman than manufacturing goods or services in the illusion of customization? It’s just a ruse. It’s dissatisfying for all of us. Let’s put the premium on what we gain from our interaction as people, rather than as account-owners.

    My mother used to say “They don’t sew pockets in shrouds.”

Comments are closed.