President Bush said he enjoyed stopping in a small village at a vegetable packingplant and seeing how indigenous farmers have been able to find new markets for their goods.
The St Merryn plant in Merthyr Tydfil is the largest single meat processing and packingplant in the UK, according to Vion which described its decision to sell as not easy but essential.
Although its hog farms have generated losses in recent years, Mr. Pope argued that controlling pork production from the farm to the packingplant helped it win customers, including restaurants and grocery chains that increasingly are demanding new products such as antibiotic-free pork.