SMITHFIELD FOODS INC (SFD) Business

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Our Company

Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc., together with its subsidiaries (“Smithfield,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), produces a wide variety of packaged meats and fresh pork products primarily in the United States (“U.S.”). Smithfield is an American food company that employs approximately 32,000 people in the U.S. and 2,500 people in Mexico. Smithfield’s portfolio includes high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield®, Eckrich® and Nathan’s Famous®, among many others. Smithfield is a majority owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based WH Group Limited (“WH Group”).

Our Mission

Good food. Responsibly.® At Smithfield, we are helping to feed a world of nearly eight billion people. Our products are found on tables everywhere. We provide families with wholesome, safe and affordable food while finding new and innovative ways to care for our people, communities, animals and planet. It is our responsibility and our promise. We make more than good food. Good is what we do.

Our Operations

We conduct our operations through three reportable segments: Packaged Meats, Fresh Pork, and Hog Production. We also conduct operations through two other operating segments, Mexico and Bioscience, which are aggregated and reported as “Other.”

Packaged Meats Segment

The Packaged Meats segment consists of our U.S. operations that process fresh meat into a wide variety of packaged meats products, including bacon, sausage, hot dogs, deli and lunch meats, dry sausage products (such as pepperoni and genoa), ham products, ready-to-eat products and prepared foods (such as pre-cooked entrees, bacon and sausage). Approximately 80% of the Packaged Meats segment’s raw materials are sourced from our Fresh Pork segment. We market our domestic packaged meats products under a strategic set of core brands, which include: Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan’s Famous, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, Krakus, John Morrell, Cook’s, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curly’s and Smithfield Culinary. We also sell a sizeable portion of our packaged meats products as private label products. The majority of the Packaged Meats segment’s products are sold to retail and foodservice customers in the U.S.

Fresh Pork Segment

The Fresh Pork segment consists of our U.S. operations that process live hogs into a wide variety of primal, sub-primal and offal products, such as bellies, butts, hams, loins, picnics and ribs. In fiscal year 2025, the Fresh Pork segment sourced approximately 40% of its raw materials from our Hog Production segment and the remainder from farmers with whom we partner across the U.S. Approximately one-third of our fresh pork products, including the majority of hams, bellies and trimmings, is transferred to our Packaged Meats segment. Externally, we sell our fresh pork products to domestic retail, foodservice and industrial customers, as well as to export markets, including, among others, China, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Canada.

Hog Production Segment

The Hog Production segment consists of our hog production operations in the U.S., which produce and raise our hogs on numerous company-owned farms and farms that are owned and operated by contract farmers. Nearly all of the hogs produced by this segment are processed by our Fresh Pork segment. The Hog Production segment also sells livestock feed and grains and provides transportation and other ancillary services to external customers.

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Other Segments

Mexico. In Mexico, we own a 66% interest in Granjas Carroll de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. (commonly known as “Altosano”), which raises hogs and produces fresh pork products that are sold primarily to customers in Mexico.

Bioscience. Our Bioscience operations use raw materials from hogs that we process to manufacture heparin products, including an active pharmaceutical ingredient that mitigates the risk of blood clots. These intermediate products are sold to the healthcare industry for use in pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices.

Recent Developments

Sioux Falls Plant Construction

On February 16, 2026, we announced that we had initiated the approval process to construct a new state-of-the-art combined fresh pork and packaged meats processing facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The proposed facility would replace our existing 117-year-old plant currently located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Our preliminary estimate of the proposed investment is up to $1.3 billion over the next three years. This investment is contingent on approval by the Company’s board of directors as well as permitting and other regulatory approvals. If approved, construction is anticipated to begin in the first half of 2027 with production estimated to commence by the end of 2028. Additionally, if the project moves forward, we plan to accelerate depreciation and may incur other incremental costs related to closing the existing plant, which are currently under evaluation.

Nathan’s Acquisition

On January 20, 2026, we entered into an agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Nathan’s Famous Inc. (“Nathan’s”) for $102.00 per share in cash. The acquisition is expected to be funded using cash on hand. Since March 2014, we have held an exclusive license to manufacture, distribute, market and sell “Nathan’s Famous” branded hot dogs, sausages, corned beef and certain other ancillary products through retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada and Sam’s Clubs in Mexico. The license is scheduled to expire in March 2032. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the first half of 2026, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the merger agreement, including obtaining approval by the holders of a majority of the outstanding Nathan’s common stock, approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) and other customary closing conditions.

Initial Public Offering

On January 29, 2025, we completed our initial public offering (“IPO”) of 26,086,958 shares of common stock, representing 7% of the total outstanding shares, at a price of $20.00 per share. We issued 13,043,479 shares of common stock bringing the total number of outstanding shares to 393,112,711. The remaining 13,043,479 shares of common stock were sold by WH Group, through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary SFDS UK Holdings Limited (“SFDS UK”), our only shareholder at the time. WH Group granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 3,913,042 additional shares of our common stock. On February 20, 2025, the underwriters partially exercised such option and purchased 2,506,936 additional shares of common stock from WH Group. We received net proceeds from the IPO of $236 million after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and fees. Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker “SFD.”

Secondary Offering

On September 8, 2025, WH Group, through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary SFDS UK, sold another 22,461,452 shares of our common stock in a secondary offering. The sale did not affect the number of shares outstanding, nor did we receive any proceeds from the sale of stock by WH Group. Following this offering, WH Group owns approximately 87% of our shares of common stock.

Hog Production Reform

We have taken a number of actions over the last couple of years to restructure and optimize the size of our hog production operations, including ceasing certain farm operations, terminating certain agreements with

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underperforming contract farmers and reducing the size of our hog production business (“Hog Production Reform”). More recently, our efforts have included the following strategic actions:

•In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024, we became a member of a North Carolina-based company, Murphy Family Farms LLC (“Murphy Family Farms”), by contributing $3 million in cash in exchange for a 25% minority interest. We additionally sold approximately 150,000 sows and related inventories located on Company-owned and contract farms in North Carolina to Murphy Family Farms. Subsequent to the end of fiscal year 2024, on December 30, 2024, we sold the commercial hog inventories associated with such sows to Murphy Family Farms. Murphy Family Farms is now a hog supplier to us and supplies approximately 3.2 million hogs annually. We supply animal feed and other supplies and provide certain support services to Murphy Family Farms.

•On February 24, 2025, we became a member of a North Carolina-based company, VisionAg Hog Production, LLC (“VisionAg”), by contributing $450,000 in cash in exchange for a 9% minority interest. We additionally sold approximately 28,000 sows and the associated commercial hog inventories located on certain Company-owned and contract farms in North Carolina to VisionAg. VisionAg is now a hog supplier to us and supplies approximately 600,000 hogs annually. We supply animal feed and provide certain support services to VisionAg.

Our Growth Strategies

The strategic initiatives we are executing across our segments are complemented and enabled by our strong balance sheet and ongoing operational investments, positioning us for future growth.

Drive Growth of Packaged Meats

Our Packaged Meats segment is core to our growth strategy and has been a major driver in transforming our business since 2014. We have methodically shifted our business mix to focus on this higher-margin segment over time. The segment contributed 56% of our sales and 85% of our overall operating profit in fiscal year 2025.

Our Packaged Meats segment is meeting consumers’ demand for protein with convenience, flavor and value, through our strong brand portfolio and private label offerings. We plan to grow our Packaged Meats segment through several strategic initiatives centered on three levers: mix improvement, volume growth and innovation.

We are continuing to shift our portfolio toward a higher mix of value-added and premium products. This includes converting one-time seasonal commodity bone-in ham purchase occasions to increased unit sales of everyday, convenient products such as quarter-weight hams and Prime Fresh sliced lunch meat.

Our plan to increase volume is enhanced by our longstanding position as a trusted partner to leading retailers and foodservice providers, and our strategy to offer a diversified portfolio of high-quality products that meet consumers’ needs across all price points.

Innovation is also a key driver of profitable volume. We will continue to invest in product, packaging and operational innovations to drive growth, enhance our profitability and expand our total addressable market. We are focused on strengthening relationships with customers and consumers by being first-to-market with new products and solutions that deliver new flavors, convenient and easily prepared offerings, and value-added offerings.

We believe that these proven strategies will drive profitable organic growth in our Packaged Meats segment.

Further Enhance Fresh Pork

We continually seek greater efficiencies as we manufacture and market fresh pork products. Our capabilities and supply chain allow us to provide differentiated products and high service levels to our customers. We deliver a high-quality, consistently available supply to our Packaged Meats segment and maximize the value of our raw materials.

We seek to enhance the profitability of our Fresh Pork segment by maximizing the value of each hog across channels, with a particular focus on growing U.S retail sales by introducing new value-added case-ready and

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marinated items, and by expanding adjacent channel opportunities such as pharmaceuticals and pet food treats. We are also focused on maximizing the best sales opportunity across more than 30 export markets around the world.

Achieve Best-In-Class Hog Production Operations

We continue to optimize the size of our company-owned hog production operations and procure a greater mix of hogs from independent suppliers with market-based supply agreements. On our retained farms, we are focused on achieving a best-in-class cost structure through genetic transformation, herd health improvements and procurement and nutrition savings. We are deploying innovative approaches to animal nutrition that are increasing feed conversion and lowering our cost basis. In addition, by-products that were once considered waste are now used to create renewable natural gas through our biogas joint ventures and lifesaving pharmaceuticals through our bioscience business.

Optimize Our Operations and Supply Chain to Decrease Our Cost Basis

As part of our culture of continuous improvement, we have implemented many initiatives over the past several years to reduce costs and realize operational efficiencies. These initiatives have enabled us to offset inflation and enhance margins across our entire business.

This includes advancing technology and automation and strategically redeploying labor. We employ automation in our plants to redeploy labor to higher value tasks, improve yields and drive efficiency by reducing complexity. This lowers our cost basis and helps offset inflationary pressures.

In our logistics and distribution network, we have reduced transportation and warehousing costs through transportation efficiencies, maximizing utilization of our storage and trucking assets, improving supply and demand planning and optimizing inventory levels. These actions increase profitability and improve customer service levels, which we believe is essential to being a supplier of choice.

We remain committed to optimizing our operations and supply chain.

Trends in Market Demand

We operate in the large and growing global packaged and fresh meats market, which includes value-added fresh, refrigerated and frozen proteins. Our business operations are primarily concentrated in North America, but, as a leading exporter to major international markets, we also benefit from significant global demand for our products.

The U.S. packaged meats market is supported by long-term secular tailwinds, including consumer demand for high-protein diets, high-quality nutrition, product versatility and convenience. We expect these tailwinds to continue to drive increases in overall meat consumption. Nevertheless, changes in market trends, consumer preferences and the impact of macroeconomic factors on consumer spend could adversely affect our results of operations. For more information, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Operations—Changes in consumer preferences and failure to maintain favorable consumer perception of our brands and products could negatively impact our business.”

Global demand for pork and pork products supports strong U.S. pork exports. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), the U.S. share of the global pork export market increased to 30% in 2025 from 2% in 1990. In 2024, the U.S. surpassed the European Union to become the world’s largest pork exporter. According to the USDA, total U.S. pork product export volume was 3.5 million tons in 2025.

Sales and Marketing

Our goal is to provide quality and value to the ultimate consumers of our packaged meats and fresh pork products. We sell our branded and private label packaged meats and fresh pork products through a variety of channels, including:

•national and regional retailers (primarily grocery supermarket chains, independent grocers and club stores);

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•the foodservice industry, including foodservice distributors, fast food and other restaurants, hotel chains and other institutional customers;

•industrial customers who use our products as raw materials in their finished goods production, including prepared meals, by-products for pharmaceutical production and pet food treats and ingredients; and

•export sales to international retailers and wholesale distributors, primarily in North American, Asian, Latin American and other emerging markets.

We use a variety of consumer advertising and trade promotion programs designed to build awareness and increase sales distribution and penetration. We also provide sales incentives to certain of our customers through rebates, such as those based on achievement of specified volume and/or growth in volume levels. We primarily use company-employed salespersons to sell our products, and we also engage independent brokers who work on a commission basis.

Customers

In fiscal year 2025, we sold our products to approximately 4,300 customers. Walmart Inc., including its subsidiary Sam’s West, Inc. (collectively “Walmart”), is a customer of our Packaged Meats and Fresh Pork segments and accounted for approximately 15%, 16% and 15% of our consolidated sales in fiscal years 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Walmart has been our customer for multiple decades. No other customer accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated sales during fiscal years 2025, 2024 and 2023. Cumulatively, our top ten customers accounted for 42%, 39% and 39% of our consolidated sales in fiscal years 2025, 2024 and 2023.

Manufacturing Facilities

We manufacture packaged meats, fresh pork and value-added items at 38 processing plants across 18 different states:

•Packaged meats. We produce packaged meats products across 30 processing plants in 17 states.

•Fresh pork. We process hogs at eight processing plants in six states, with the aggregate processing capacity of our collective processing plants of approximately 108,000 hogs per day.

•Value-added items. We operate six additional processing plants that use our fresh pork products to produce value-added items, such as case-ready products, pork skins for snacking and pet food and treats.

Our processing plants are strategically located to access raw materials in a cost-effective manner and to service our diverse customer base. Six of our fresh pork processing plants also include packaged meats operations, which improves our overall cost structure by reducing the cost of transporting fresh raw materials and leveraging shared fixed overheads.

We continue to optimize our operations by reconfiguring our manufacturing footprint, closing high-cost operating lines and creating greater agility across our facilities. Our facilities utilize modern, highly automated equipment to process and package our packaged meats and fresh pork products, aiding us in redeploying our team members to higher-value tasks. We believe that these expenditures have enhanced product quality, improved customer satisfaction and increased sales potential. Our economies of scale and network afford us significant supply chain transparency and substantial availability of high-quality raw material supply to our growing Packaged Meats segment. Our portfolio of production facilities requires routine capital investment for repairs and maintenance. We believe that annual total capital expenditures in the near term are likely to be in the range of $350 million to $450 million inclusive of both repairs and maintenance and profit improvement projects. Capital expenditures could be more in certain years to ensure continuity of production in our older assets.

Our facilities are also designed to promote regulatory compliance and worker safety, as well as reduced waste and emissions, while seeking to comply with applicable environmental standards.

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Our Mexico operations produce 1.8 million hogs annually at 134 company-owned farms and processes 1.4 million hogs at one manufacturing plant. Our Bioscience manufacturing location in Ohio processes raw materials from hogs that we process to manufacture heparin products, including Heparin Sodium, an active pharmaceutical ingredient, which mitigates the risk of blood clots.

Distribution and Transportation

We have integrated, centralized teams that coordinate supply and demand planning, customer service and logistics to service our packaged meats and fresh pork customer base. We use a combination of third-party shipping companies and our leased and owned fleet of tractor trailers to distribute meat products to our customers, as well as to move products between facilities. In the U.S., we distribute products directly from some of our plants and from owned and leased distribution centers in Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska and North Carolina. We use these distribution centers to consolidate products that are manufactured at different plants across our network to fulfill our customer orders efficiently. One of these distribution centers is operated by third-party logistics providers.

Due in part to the different demands of distribution for frozen and refrigerated products, as well as the seasonality of certain of our products, we use a network of over 45 third-party cold storage locations for storage, handling and other value-added services. These arrangements are generally contracted on an annual basis with either fixed or variable usage requirements. Access to these locations provides capacity to sell frozen and chilled product offerings to our export customer base. For export sales to overseas geographies, we contract with third-party international container shipping carriers to ship our products cost effectively to the destination ports of our customers.

Our distribution network enables us to enhance our customer reach and sell our products efficiently and cost effectively throughout the U.S. and the world. We continue to seek innovative solutions to accomplish this mission. We use automation in our distribution centers to pick and fulfill orders and thereby reduce labor costs. We coordinate deliveries and use backhauling to reduce overall transportation costs.

Raw Materials

Feed for Internally Sourced Hogs

The primary raw materials for hog production are corn, soybean meal and wheat. Hogs consume grain during the grow-out period from wean to finish, which takes six months on average. Feed costs account for approximately 60% of our Hog Production raising cost. We have 49 locations used for feed production and feed storage in the U.S., which are located near our farms, where we convert purchased grain into feed for our animals.

Feed grains are readily available from numerous sources at competitive prices, and we believe such raw materials to be in adequate supply. We take an active role in the physical markets for grain and other feed ingredients throughout the world. These efforts range from buying lower-cost corn from local farmers near our feed mills to importing grain or soybean meal from South America from time to time.

We seek to mitigate higher input costs through productivity initiatives to improve feed conversion, procurement initiatives and the use of derivative instruments to hedge a portion of forecasted future consumption economically. We seek to stabilize pricing generally by purchasing grains through forward purchase contracts.

Raw Materials for Fresh Pork Segment

Internally Sourced Hogs

In fiscal year 2025, we sourced approximately 40% of the hogs processed in our Fresh Pork segment’s facilities from our Hog Production segment. Our Hog Production segment consists of more than 240 company-owned farms and more than 1,300 contract farms in the U.S. that raise our hogs for processing. Contract farmers provide the initial facility investment, labor and front-line management through a pre-determined economic and commercial arrangement, and we provide the animals and the feed.

We develop breeding stock, optimize diets for our hogs at each stage of the growth process, feed our hogs and design hog containment facilities. From the process’s origin at the grain farms to the ultimate step of delivering hogs

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to our processing plants, we monitor the vertically integrated process at every juncture to ensure a premium level of product, assurance of supply and control of input costs. Whether our animals are raised on company-owned or contract farms, we seek to have a supply chain that meets our standards for quality and animal welfare practices.

At our company-owned and contract farms, we have ongoing initiatives to improve profitability, including genetic transformation, herd health improvements and procurement and nutrition savings. These ongoing initiatives are intended to improve the livability of our animals while reducing costs. We utilize our fleet of leased and owned tractor trailers to transport hogs between farm and production facilities.

Externally Sourced Hogs

We procure hogs that we process in our Fresh Pork segment through multi-year, market-based supply agreements with independent suppliers, which provide us with a stable supply of high-quality hogs at market-indexed prices. A portion of our external hog supply is sourced from joint‑venture partners in which we hold minority interests, and which operate under long‑term supply arrangements. These joint ventures, along with our other independent suppliers, contribute to a diversified and reliable supply base. While certain suppliers provide meaningful volumes, we believe our long‑term supply arrangements and access to alternative sources reduce the risk of significant disruption.

Raw Materials for Packaged Meats Segment

We source approximately 80% of the raw materials used in our Packaged Meats segment from our Fresh Pork segment. We purchase beef and poultry from other meat processors to supplement our processing requirements. Our third-party pork and beef purchases are made on a spot basis, while our third-party poultry purchases are booked through annual volume commitments.

Although the price of our raw materials fluctuates due to market dynamics, we believe that our supply of raw materials is adequate and generally available from numerous sources. We seek to mitigate higher input costs through productivity improvements in our operations, various procurement strategies and the use of derivative instruments to economically hedge a portion of forecasted future consumption.

Packaging Materials and Ingredients for Fresh Pork and Packaged Meats Segments

We have a centralized procurement function responsible for competitively sourcing packaging and ingredient raw materials from third-party suppliers. We purchase raw materials, including seasonings, sweeteners, cheese and antimicrobials from ingredient suppliers, commodity processors and other food companies located primarily in the U.S. We also purchase packaging materials, including flexible resin-based packaging, corrugated boxes and folding cartons, foam trays and pads, labels and casings, from packaging manufacturers located primarily in the U.S. We purchase the majority of our packaging materials under contracts with pricing formulas based on published raw material indices for the primary components of our packaging, which are typically resin and paperboard.

Seasonality

Our business is somewhat seasonal in that, traditionally, the periods of higher sales for hams are the holiday seasons such as Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the periods of higher sales for ribs, smoked sausages and hot dogs are the summer months. We typically build inventories of certain products in anticipation of seasonal demand fluctuations.

In addition, hog prices tend to rise as hog supplies decrease during the summer, and hog prices tend to decline as hog supplies increase during the fall and winter. This tendency is due to lower farrowing performance during the winter and slower animal growth rates during the summer.

Competition

In our business, we participate across the value chain—from farm to finished products. We believe our diverse branded and private label product offerings allow us to compete effectively across channels and customer price points.

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Our ability to compete effectively depends on our capacity to execute across the following primary competitive factors:

•taste;

•product quality;

•nutritional profile and dietary attributes;

•product availability;

•convenience;

•price;

•brand recognition and loyalty; and

•the ability to identify and satisfy emerging consumer preferences.

The protein industry is highly competitive. Competing large, multi-brand consumer packaged food companies include Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods, Kraft Heinz, Pilgrims Pride, Maple Leaf Foods, Premium Brands and Conagra. These competitors are scaled, multinational corporations with substantial financial, marketing, research and development (“R&D”) and other resources. Private, category-focused companies that we compete with include Boar’s Head and Johnsonville. These private competitors may be more innovative and able to bring new products to market faster and more quickly exploit and serve niche markets or new or burgeoning consumer preferences. Pork processing companies with which we compete include Tyson Foods, Triumph Foods, JBS USA, Prestage Farms and Seaboard. Although pork is relatively inexpensive in comparison to other protein sources, we also compete indirectly with the producers of chicken, beef, seafood and meat alternatives since changes in the relative prices of these proteins may alter consumer buying patterns. Additionally, we face competition for export sales from both domestic and international suppliers.

As a leading food company, we believe that we effectively compete through our high-quality products, leading brands, expansive channel reach, scaled distribution network, our significant focus on controlling our input costs (including through internally sourced hogs) and our strong financial profile. Based on the strength of our longstanding relationships and proven, execution-oriented management team, we believe that we are a trusted partner to farmers, suppliers, customers and ultimate consumers across the value chain.

Research and Development

We conduct R&D activities to develop new and improved products for our customers, incorporate innovative ingredients, develop advanced pork processing equipment and methods and enhance the survival, health, growth and well-being of our animals.

Our in-house food science R&D team consists of approximately 35 professionals focused on developing new and improved products and enhancing plant productivity. In 2011, we opened Smithfield’s Innovation Center near our headquarters in Smithfield, Virginia. This technologically advanced facility is dedicated to developing new products, enhancing food safety and quality, exploring consumer insights and preferences and evaluating both our products and those of our competitors.

Our animal scientists conduct research at farms across the country to improve the performance and well-being of our animals. In addition, we conduct genetic and genomic research to advance the proprietary genetics of our animals and foster specific traits that improve their overall performance.

Human Capital

As of December 28, 2025, we employed approximately 32,000 individuals in the U.S. and approximately 2,500 in Mexico. Approximately 44% of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements or are members of labor unions. Our corporate culture emphasizes responsibility, operational excellence and innovation at all levels,

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and consequently encourages input, initiative and new ideas. To attract and retain employees committed to these values, we recognize the importance of training and development, competitive compensation, and an uncompromising commitment to safety. The following highlights key aspects of our human capital management approach:

•We strive to provide competitive compensation packages and to reward high performers. Our annual incentive plan provides an additional payment to our exempt employees based on achievement of company metrics and individual performance. We reward innovation among our employees through an annual competition in which team members who have been the impetus for improvements that led to cost savings or greater efficiency receive cash awards.

•We offer our team members and their families a range of benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, prescription drug plans, retirement savings, paid vacation and sick time, paid leave, wellness and mental health programs, employee assistance services and other resources to support their health and wellness. Benefits are available to all full-time team members but may vary because of geographic location or collective bargaining agreements.

•We emphasize our team members’ professional development. We offer instructor-led training programs to promote and support the development of the next generation of leaders. All team members have access to a digital learning platform, offering hundreds of courses with topics ranging from food safety to leadership development. We also extend educational opportunities to team members’ dependents: in 2025, the Smithfield Scholarship Program awarded $576,000 in college scholarships to more than 100 students at 11 schools across seven states.

•We want our team members to be proud of their part in supporting the places where we work and live. We provide opportunities for our employees to participate in events and volunteer activities that fight hunger, further education, support our hometown heroes and advance the vitality of our local communities through our Matching Gifts Program, empowering employees to support causes they care about.

Workplace Safety

The safety of our team members is paramount, and safety is embedded into our culture. Safety training starts on Day 1 and continues throughout employment. We require strict adherence to our rigorous health and safety policies from every team member and visitor at our facilities. We practice a “stop work authority” policy, which empowers all our team members to halt production, without fear of retribution, if they believe something is unsafe. We have zero tolerance for human rights abuses, including the use of child, forced or compulsory labor.

We have implemented our Smithfield Injury Prevention System (“SIPS”), a comprehensive management system that outlines our safety and health policy requirements and includes rigorous validation of the management process. This approach reflects our ongoing commitment to providing a safe work environment and supporting the welfare of our workforce. By prioritizing safety and compliance, we aim to reduce workplace incidents and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Our programs are designed to protect our employees and visitors, promote engagement and ensure that safety remains a core value across all our locations.

Adherence to local, state and federal regulatory compliance is critical for protecting our team, visitors and assets. SIPS is designed to provide the guidance needed to comply with regulatory standards, prevent injuries, manage risks and promote continuous improvement throughout our business.

In addition to physical safety, we expanded awareness of mental health and well-being resources in 2025, including: Access to the Calm app for meditation and stress management; Be Well program, offering support for diabetes, maternity, asthma, tobacco cessation, cancer, emotional well-being and more; Thrive program, providing legal, financial and counseling services; and Monthly wellness topics, such as sleep care and women’s health, promoted through internal communications. While these programs are not new, we renewed our emphasis on education and awareness in 2025, ensuring employees are aware of all the resources that are available to promote health and wellness.

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Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of intellectual property laws, internal procedures and policies and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights. We own and use numerous retail and foodservice brands, which are registered trademarks or are otherwise protected under applicable intellectual property laws, including, for example: Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, John Morrell, Cook’s, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curly’s and Smithfield Culinary. Altosano sells branded products in Mexico under the Altosano brand. We pursue the registration of certain of our trademarks in the U.S. and in certain locations outside the U.S. to protect our brand names, products, and services around the world. Trademark registrations can generally be renewed as long as the trademarks are in use.

In December 2012, we entered into a license agreement with Nathan’s Famous that commenced in March of 2014 and expires in March 2032. The agreement provides us with the exclusive right to: (1) manufacture, distribute, market and sell “Nathan’s Famous” branded hot dogs, sausages and corned beef and certain other products within the U.S., Canada and Sam’s Clubs in Mexico; and (2) manufacture and distribute “Nathan’s Famous” branded hot dog and sausage products in bulk for use in the food service industry. As described above, on January 20, 2026, we entered into an agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Nathan’s Famous and we will own the Nathan’s Famous brand if we are able to successfully complete the acquisition.

We believe that registered and licensed trademarks have been important to the success of our branded fresh pork and packaged meats products. We consider these marks and the accompanying goodwill and customer recognition valuable and material to our business. Our brands are among the leaders across several of the largest packaged meats product categories in the U.S.

In our hog production operations, we use genetic lines of breeding stock that we own, which are considered trade secrets, as well as genetic lines that we license from third parties. We also sublicense rights to some of our strategic hog production partners.

Regulation

Quality Assurance and Food Safety

We are subject to extensive food safety regulation, including the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, the U.S. Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, the USDA Pathogen Reduction: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Systems Rule of 1996, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness & Response Act of 2002, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 and other rules and regulations promulgated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), the USDA and the sub-branches of these regulatory bodies relating to the production and introduction of human foods to commerce. These comprehensive and evolving regulatory programs govern, among other things, the manufacturing, composition, ingredients, labeling, packaging and safety of food, including compliance with specific current good manufacturing practice regulations.

Our processing plants are subject to on-site examination, inspection and regulation by the USDA. The FDA inspects various of our processing plants that produce snacking foods, heparin products, and pet food and treats in the U.S., as well as the production of our feed mills. We are subject to recalls of our meat products in the event of suspected contamination or adulteration that could constitute a food safety hazard. We maintain a rigorous program of interventions, inspections and testing to reduce the likelihood of food safety hazards. Regulatory enforcement actions for violations of federal, state and local regulations may include seizure and condemnation of products, product recalls, cease and desist orders, injunctions and monetary, civil or criminal penalties.

Our plants, as well as those of our hog suppliers, have all developed quality programs following the standards set in the USDA’s Process Verified Program (“PVP”). Our PVP programs monitor aspects of traceability, country of origin and Transport Quality Assurance status of drivers. In addition, all of our applicable U.S. facilities are certified to a Global Food Safety Initiative (“GFSI”) benchmarked standard, and all of our food safety plans and policies meet the requirements of a GFSI benchmarked standard. We also require our ingredient suppliers to undergo annual

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food safety audits, the majority of which, to our knowledge, meet the requirements of a GFSI benchmarked standard.

Animal Care

We are subject to regulations relating to animal treatment, including the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1978 governing our processing plants. Our processing facilities are subject to regular on-site examination, inspection and regulation by the USDA, and regular internal and third-party audits are conducted throughout the year. We are also subject to state laws governing the care of livestock that is used in certain meat products sold within those states, including California’s Farm Animal Confinement Initiative (“Proposition 12”) and Massachusetts Question 3.

Other Regulation

In addition to the various laws and regulations described above related to quality and food safety and animal care, we are subject to various laws and regulations administered by federal, state and other government entities in the U.S. and internationally, governing, among other things, environmental protection, worker safety, and storage and transportation of our products, including governmental regulations issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), the Center for Disease Control and the state and local regulatory authorities relating to handling and discharge of waste water, storm water, air emissions, treatment, storage and disposal of agricultural and food processing wastes, handling of hazardous substances, remediation of contaminated soil, surface water and groundwater, the use and maintenance of refrigeration systems, including ammonia-based chillers, noise, odor and dust management, the operation of mechanized processing equipment and other operations.

New or more stringent environmental laws or regulations that impose additional requirements on our operations or on us could increase the cost of doing business for us. For more information regarding environmental regulation of our operations, see “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Government Regulations—Governmental authorities may take further action restricting our ability to produce and/or sell livestock or adopt new regulations impacting our production or processing operations, which could adversely affect our business.”

Our Mexican operations also are subject to regulation by Mexican environmental authorities. The Mexican federal, state and local authorities may, from time to time, adopt revisions to environmental rules and regulations, and/or changes in the terms and conditions of our environmental permits, with which we must comply. Our Mexican processing plants are also subject to on-site examination, inspection and regulation by Mexican governmental agencies that perform functions similar to those performed by the USDA and the FDA. For more information regarding our Mexican operations, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Operations—We are subject to risks associated with our international sales, including disruptions to the worldwide economy due to changes in U.S. trade policy.”

It is our policy to comply with all applicable law in the jurisdictions in which we do business. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Executive Officers

The following table sets forth the name, age and position of our executive officers, followed by a biography of each executive officer.

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C. Shane Smith has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Smithfield and as a member of our board of directors since July 2021. He joined our company in 2003 and has served in a variety of leadership roles for our U.S. and international operations since then. Mr. Smith also served as an executive director at WH Group from August 2021 and as a member of the board of directors of WH Group from July 2021, in each case, until our IPO in January 2025. He served as our Chief Strategy Officer from January 2021 to July 2021. In that role, Mr. Smith was also responsible for our hog production operations, Smithfield Renewables and our European and Mexican operations. Prior to that, Mr. Smith served as Executive Vice President of our European operations from April 2019 to January 2021, President of our Romanian operations from November 2017 to April 2019 and Chief Financial Officer of our European operations from September 2012 to April 2019. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Mount Olive College and a Master of Business Administration (“MBA”) from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Mark L. Hall has served as our Chief Financial Officer since January 2023. Mr. Hall joined our company in 2014 as the Vice President, Finance for the John Morrell Food Group. He served as Executive Vice President of Finance from December 2020 to January 2023, overseeing financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, operations, logistics, trade spend finance, data analytics and project and capital management in support of the U.S. business. He served as Senior Vice President, Finance, from 2019 to late 2020, where he oversaw financial operations for our fresh pork and packaged meats businesses. He served as the Vice President, Finance for our combined packaged meats businesses from 2015 to 2019. Mr. Hall has over 25 years of industry experience, serving in roles of increasing responsibility at The Quaker Oats Company and McCain Foods USA prior to joining our company in 2014. He began his career in public accounting at Arthur Andersen LLP and worked in Equity Research for Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc. Mr. Hall holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University of Maryland. Mr. Hall is a certified public accountant registered in the State of Illinois.

Keller D. Watts has served as our Chief Business Officer since January 2023. He has been with our company since 1994. He served as Smithfield Foods Executive Vice President, Packaged Business Management and Supply Planning from August 2021 to January 2023, Senior Vice President of Business Management Retail from May 2016 to August 2021, Senior Vice President, Packaged Business Development for Smithfield Farmland subsidiary from September 2014 to May 2016, Senior Vice President, Packaged Business Development for Smithfield Farmland from December 2008 to September 2014, Vice President, Packaged Meats from June 2006 to December 2008 and Vice President, Product Management for subsidiary Smithfield Packing from May 2001 to December 2008. Over the course of his career, Mr. Watts has held roles in sales, marketing, revenue management, supply chain, strategic sourcing, and R&D. Mr. Watts holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an MBA from Western Governors University.

Doug Sutton, Ph.D. has served as our Chief Manufacturing Officer since January 2023. He joined our company in 2001. He served as Executive Vice President, Manufacturing from August 2021 to January 2023, Vice President, Research and Development from January 2012 to August 2021 and Director, Research Development from January 2001 to January 2012. Dr. Sutton holds a Bachelor of Animal Science and a Master of Animal Science, each from Oklahoma State University, and a Ph.D. in Animal Science from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Steven France has served as our President of Packaged Meats since January 2023. Mr. France joined our company in 2002. He has experience spanning manufacturing, business management, transportation and warehousing, sales and marketing and customer service. He served as Executive Vice President, Packaged Meats from December 2020 to January 2023, Senior Vice President of Sales, Packaged Meats from December 2018 to December 2020 and Vice President, Deli Sales from February 2018 to December 2018. Mr. France began his career at Conagra Brands, Inc. and spent several years in various management roles at Michael Foods, Inc. Mr. France holds a Bachelor of Science from The Ohio State University.

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Donovan Owens has served as our President of North America Pork since January 2026. He joined our company in 1993. He has experience in industrial engineering, fresh pork business management and fresh pork operations. Mr. Owens served as President, U.S. Fresh Pork from May 2023 to January 2026 and Executive Director of Support Operations for Smithfield Hog Production from May 2022 to April 2023. He led our Tar Heel, North Carolina facility for 12 years initially as Director of Operations from July 2010 to December 2017 and then as Complex Plant Manager from December 2017 to June 2022. He served in various other roles at our company between 1993 and 2010. Mr. Owens holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Kraig A. Westerbeek has served as our President of Hog Production since February 2024. He joined our company in 1993. In July 2022, Mr. Westerbeek was named as the Chief Development Officer of Monarch. He served as Vice President, Smithfield Renewables and Hog Production Environmental Compliance from July 2017 to June 2022 and Vice President, Environment and Support Operations from June 2014 to June 2017. Mr. Westerbeek is a past member of the board of directors of the North Carolina Pork Council and NPPC and is a current member of NPPC’s environmental committee, which he previously chaired. Mr. Westerbeek holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Agriculture Systems from North Carolina State University.

I. Jay Bennett has served as our Chief Human Resources Officer since March 2023. Mr. Bennett was previously at Lockheed Martin Corporation where he served as Vice President, Human Resources RMS Lines of Business from February 2022 to March 2023. Prior to that, he was at Sikorsky Aircraft (acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2015) where he served as Vice President, Human Resources from October 2017 to February 2022 and Vice President Human Resources, Operations from July 2014 to October 2017. Prior to that, Mr. Bennett served in various managerial human resources roles at Rolls Royce plc from April 2009 to July 2014. Mr. Bennett previously served in various human resources roles at United Technologies Corporation and General Motors Company. Mr. Bennett holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from DePauw University and a Juris Doctor (“JD”) from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Tennille J. Checkovich has served as our Chief Legal Officer since December 2024. She joined our company in 2020 and served as General Counsel from March 2023 to December 2024 and Deputy General Counsel from October 2020 to March 2023. Prior to joining Smithfield, from September 2004 to October 2020, Ms. Checkovich worked at McGuireWoods LLP, where she was a partner in the business and securities litigation department, served on the firm’s Finance Committee and advised corporate clients, including our company, on a range of matters. She previously worked as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Early in her career, Ms. Checkovich was a law clerk to the Honorable Barbara S. Jones of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, where she has served on the Governance Committee. Ms. Checkovich holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Virginia and a JD from Yale Law School.

Availability of Securities and Exchange Commission Documents

The Company makes available its annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on its website at investors.smithfieldfoods.com. These reports are accessible under the caption, “Investors – SEC Filings” on the Company’s website and are available as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These filings are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The documents are available in print, free of charge, to any shareholder who requests them.

Cautionary Statements Relevant to Forward-Looking Information

This Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other publicly available documents contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including statements regarding our strategy, future financial condition, future operations, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management, and expected market

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growth, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words, such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “shall,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “goal,” “objective,” “seeks,” “likely” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions.

Forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, but are not limited to, statements about:

•our ability to capture synergies between our Packaged Meats and Fresh Pork segments;

•our ability to execute on our strategy to optimize the size of our hog production operations;

•our ability to anticipate and meet consumer trends and interests through product innovation;

•the size of our addressable markets, market share and market trends, including our ability to drive organic growth in our business through our Packaged Meats and Fresh Pork segments;

•anticipated trends, developments and challenges in our industry, business and the highly competitive markets in which we operate;

•our ability to mitigate higher input costs through productivity improvements in our operations (including analytics and task automation), various procurement strategies and the use of derivative instruments;

•our dependence on third-party suppliers and our ability to mitigate any disruption or inefficiency in our supply chain and/or operations;

•our expectations regarding our hog production transformation strategy and our ability to achieve segment production targets;

•fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations due to the seasonal nature of our business;

•our ability to attract and retain employees and maintain our corporate culture;

•our ability to prevent cyberattacks, other cyber-incidents, security breaches or other disruptions of our information technology (“IT”) systems;

•our ability to defend litigation brought against us successfully and the sufficiency of our accruals for related contingent losses;

•compliance with laws and regulations, including environmental, cybersecurity and tax laws and regulations, that currently apply or may become applicable to our business both in the U.S. and Mexico and our expectations regarding various laws and restrictions that relate to our business;

•our ability to capitalize on export markets;

•our ability to execute on acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures, including without limitation our ability to close our pending transaction with Nathan’s, which remains subject to regulatory approval from CFIUS and other closing conditions;

•legal, regulatory, or market measures to address climate change and our ability to achieve our climate-related goals and strategies;

•future investments in our business, our anticipated capital expenditures and our estimates regarding our capital requirements;

•the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents and the availability of our committed credit facilities to meet our liquidity needs;

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•our ability to achieve our financial and operational targets;

•our ability to maintain our investment grade ratings;

•our expectations regarding expenses, such as stock-based compensation expenses;

•fluctuations in the values of our open derivative contracts and pension obligations and related assets;

•impairment in the carrying value of our goodwill or intangible assets;

•our ability to achieve or maintain our targeted ratio of net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) and minimum liquidity levels; and

•our dividend policy and our ability to pay dividends.

We cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur at all. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Moreover, new risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.