Iowa’s Attorney General has filed suit to block the sale of a large hog producer to a large processor. Smithfield Foods of Virginia is plotting to buy North Carolina-based Murphy Family Farm’s Iowa operation for four-hundred-60-million dollars. Murphy has about a million and a half hogs in the Hawkeye State. Steve Moline is leading the state’s legal team on this case.Moline says Iowa’s corporate farming law bars meatpackers from owning livestock.Moline says no other state has a corporate farming law which includes a similar prohibition.Yesterday, a Humboldt county court issued a temporary injunction to stop the Smithfield’s acquisition of Murphy Family Farms assets in Iowa.A February 10th hearing has been set for both sides to prepare arguements in the case.
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