North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper recently announced a new round of Smithfield Foods funded grants, which aim to improve water quality throughout North Carolina. The grants are part of the landmark July 2000 agreement between Smithfield and the Attorney General’s office more than $2 million in grants will go to five environmental groups who competed with nearly twenty other organizations for the funds.

The beneficiaries selected by Attorney General Cooper to receive the Smithfield funds include the Cape Fear River Assembly, Save Our State, the Green Trust Alliance, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust and the North Carolina Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

The Cape Fear River Assembly of Fayetteville is a basin-wide and diverse interests water management and stewardship organization. It will receive $200,000 from Smithfield to fund its water quality monitoring and analysis in the mid and lower Cape Fear River system.

Save Our State, which is headquartered in Raleigh, will receive of a $340,000 grant from Smithfield. The money will be used to build and test a closed loop swine waste management system that could provide an environmentally friendly way to process waste on hog farms throughout eastern North Carolina.

The North Carolina State University-based Green Trust Alliance will receive $499,750 in Smithfield funds to restore and protect 364 acres of wetlands in Craven County near Flat Water Creek, a tributary of the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound.

The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust will receive $500,000 from Smithfield to purchase land in Craven and Pamlico counties to serve as environmental buffers along the lower Neuse River.

North Carolina Soil and Water Conservation Districts will continue its efforts to help farmers close out hog lagoons, improve farm management and protect water quality with $500,000 from Smithfield.

Smithfield’s $2 million donation is the latest example of the company’s active leadership role in a series of long-term initiatives aimed to protect and enhance water quality throughout North Carolina. Under the Smithfield Agreement, which was adopted on July 25, 2000, Smithfield agreed to dedicate $1 per North Carolina hog, up to a cap of $2 million per year, for 25 years to a fund used to obtain environmental easements, construct and maintain wetlands and similar endeavors.

This company initiative demonstrates Smithfield’s commitment to remaining the industry leader of environmental stewardship. Smithfield will continue to foster new technologies and solutions that will protect our natural resources.

The Smithfield Foods, Inc. website now includes a section on corporate governance that is available to the public. This section is dedicated to communicating the company’s key governance and responsibility measures.

The website’s corporate governance section includes copies of the company’s articles of incorporation and bylaws, as well as information about the company’s board of directors and board committees. It also contains links to the company’s board-approved corporate governance guidelines and code of business conduct.

To access the corporate governance information, click here.