Breaking News: Goldsboro Milling shutting down its hog operation

Goldsboro Milling Company — a subsidiary of Maxwell Foods — which, earlier this decade, was recognized as one of the biggest swine producers in the United States, is ending its hog operation.

The news was confirmed by the company Friday afternoon after several employees and farmers contacted the New Old North earlier this week, saying they had been told layoffs would begin next month and the company’s hog division would be completely shuttered by June 2021.

In a statement, the company confirmed that operations would permanently halt in 2021, and said that low prices being paid for its product, “together with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” have made their current and projected financial losses “unsustainable for the company to continuing operating.”

The North Carolina Pork Council also weighed in on the decision.

“We are deeply saddened that the persistent and untenable economic conditions mean that Maxwell Foods has reached the difficult decision to cease hog production operations by the middle of 2021,” a statement from the council read. “Maxwell Foods and its network of family farmers have been an important and vital part of Eastern North Carolina communities and their economic stability.”

Many of the employees who reached out to the New Old North said they had been with the company for two decades or more and were concerned about how they would now make ends meet.

But the Pork Council said it remains “optimistic” that the “phased transition” would allow for employees to find other job opportunities — adding that “at the same time, sustainable options will be found for the approximately 150 contract farms in the Maxwell Foods system.”