Smithfield Foods's lobbyist admits Chinese owner's interest in Farm Bill lobbying

Smithfield Foods's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has quietly amended its most recent federal lobbying report to disclose that WH Group — the China-based company that owns 86.9% of Smithfield — has an interest in Smithfield's lobbying on the Farm Bill and on foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land.

The change comes after the Center for Responsible Food Business filed a complaint on Aug. 3 with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. 

Greenberg Traurig's original second-quarter report, filed July 20, 2026, answered "None" on Line 19, where federal law requires lobbyists to disclose any foreign entity's interest in the specific issues they lobbied. Those issues included "Farm Bill reauthorization" and "issues related to foreign ownership of agricultural land," and the report covers $120,000 in lobbying directed at the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and the Department of the Treasury.

On August 18, fifteen days after CRFB's complaint, the firm submitted an amended report to name Smithfield's owner — WH Group of Kowloon, Hong Kong — as a foreign entity with an interest in both lobbying areas.

"It should not take a watchdog group's complaint to compel a major global corporation to comply with federal disclosure laws about foreign lobbying interests," Taylor Warren, president of the Center for Responsible Food Business, said in a statement.