In 1992 Smithfield Foods opened the biggest hog processing plant in the world in Bladen County, North Carolina. This paper attempts to make sense of this reconfiguration of landscapes and livelihoods by examining how Smithfield became a commonsensical approach to economic development and job creation in a low-income rural region. I also examine how this approach worked in conjuncture with changing agro-food regimes to promote the emergence of N.C. Choices-a network that supports small-scale hog producers through training and marketing and connects them with processors, retailers, and consumers. Building on economic historian Karl Polanyi's conceptions of embeddedness, I argue that whereas economic development vis-Ã-vis corporate hog production positions the economy as a dominant societal force, push backs like N.C. Choices work to re-embed the economy within society. My goal in exploring these dynamics is to place alternative agro-food debates within critical development studies and consider how the momentum of various movements-environmental, labor, and food justice-can be elaborated to rethink economic development strategies.Master of City and Regional Plannin
