Solid corn and soybean prices and slumping hog prices are spelling trouble for Indiana pork producers. Its proving difficult to compare income vs. expenses on the hog budget sheet right now.

However,  report in the states Prairie Farmer, says that in spite to tough time, one Indiana hog company is moving forward. Whiteshire Hamroc LLC, a Noble County swine genetics company, announced a joint venture with Tangrenshen, an integrated pork company in Huhnan Province, China.

Whiteshire Hamroc is the largest purebred genetic producer in the USA and will supply pigs to the Chinese company. Pigs headed to the Far East will include highly-tested Yorkshires, Landrace and Durocs.

This is no small project. The Chinese pork company will introduce 1,000 females from Whiteshire Hamroc's Nucleus herd into their system. They will become the base for what the Chinese businessmen hope will become an operation that produces 10 million market pigs per year.

For technology buffs, there's an interesting angle to the arrangement. This is far from a 'sell them and leave' arrangement. Instead, Whiteshire Hamroc with continue working with the company, and be involved in monitoring and assessing daily production activities. How can that happen when the two businesses are literally a world apart? Enter the power of the Internet. The system will allow the Indiana pork company to provide genetic analysis and recommended matings for the company all the way off in China.