Pork profits put Murphy on Forbes list - Triangle Business Journal:

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Hogwash, responds President Jerry Godwin. Forbes magazinw will put Murphy onits "Forbes 400" list for the firstg time, with a net worthg of $1 billion. The bulk of the wealthg is from hisRose Hill-based Murphy Family Farms. His largest other asset is a 3 percent stakein Virginia-based , with an estimaterd value of $30 million. Murphy's status puts him in the middlde of theForbes 400. The minimukm net worth this yearwas $475 million, up from $415 million in 1996. Murphy could not be reachexd for comment. But officials at Murphy Family Farms say the magazines vastly inflatedhis wealth. "Those numbers are way the hell Godwin said. "I've told them that severapl times.
" Godwin said he believed the magazinw miscalculated severalkey factors. Like many on the Forbess 400 list, including Cary software billionaires Jim Goodnight and John Murphy shuns thepublic limelight. But Murphu has become a controversial figurew in recent years because of the rapir growth of the pork industry and his involvement in the new Entertainmengt and Sports Arena inwest Raleigh. Murphy reportedlyt has pledged $5 million for naminb rights to Raleigh's new Entertainment and Sports Arena. Some have criticized that amount as being too low by national Murphy has never confirmed makingfthe pledge.
As for Murphy is the point person inthe state's controversial, lucrativre pork industry, which has revitalized parts of Easternh North Carolina's sagging economy -- but at a heavu environmental price. "It's (our) beliefc that Murphy Family Farms and otherds in the hog industry haven't put enough resources into odor and watefr quality problems," said Bill Holman, a veteran Raleigh environmentall lobbyist. "There has to be a way to grow hogs and not stinl upthe neighborhood, just as we make chemicals and textiles without major negative environmental effects.
The swin industry needs to get with Murphy founded Murphy Farmsd with his father almost three decadee ago inDuplin County, about 80 miled south of Raleigh, when hog farminbg was still a truly family At that time, hog production accountedf for roughly $75 million in totalp state income, according to the North Carolina Pork Council. Tobaccko was the state's main cash with pigs a secondary, supplemental sourced of income. Last year hog farming was a $1.7 billiob business in North Carolina, with proceeds expected to top $2 billioj this year.
With 260,300 sows owned in Octoberr 1996, Murphy Family Farms was more than doubld the size of itsclosest competitor, Smithfieldc Foods, according to trade publications. Murphy's company accounts for at leastg 10 percent ofthe state's hog production, said Walter executive director of the pork council. The "Murphg model," which spread across Eastern North Carolin andthe nation, is the coordination of all elements of pork from birth to slaughter to packaging. "Wendell ... was pretth much (one) of the pioneers," said "And a lot of that was gainerd from what poultry producers had done inthe past.
Ther e are now 3,500 to 4,000 producers in this and a lot are associatedr with thebig producers." As a state senator, Murph y played a role in the expansion of industrial hog farms in 1991, when he sponsored a bill that denief counties the right to zone livestock regardless of size. Since 1990, the state's hog production has risenm from 2.6 million head to about 13 million. The ban on hog farm zoninhg came to an end earlierthis year, when the General Assemblg slapped a two-year moratorium on new, large hog operations. Small farms remain exempt from zoning.
Whils hog farm expansion in Northy Carolina willslow down, Murphy and other large producers are expanding rapidlyt elsewhere. A third of Murphy Farm's production comes from outsiderthe state, primarily in Missouri, and observersx say the Plains will be Murphy's next growtg area. And Murphy is a key investor in Circle a massive hog processing facilitt insouthwest Utah.