Abstract:
Wendell Murphy, owner of Rose Hill-based Murphy Family Farms, Inc., made hog farming big business in the state. His company was once the nation's top producer, valued at $750 million in 1997. However, overproduction caused prices to fall to the worse level since the Great Depression. Hog lagoon spills were headlined in the press. In 2000, Murphy sold his hog operation to Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, Inc.