To help commemorate Earth Day, Smithfield Foods, Inc. on Monday debuted a new video that talks about what the company, along with others in the pork industry, is doing to help feed the world's growing population with food that is produced responsibly and sustainably.

The video, Producing Enough Sustainable Food, notes that the world's population is expected to hit 9 billion by 2050, and addresses the question, "How will we ever feed that many hungry people responsibly?"

The answer is that Smithfield has a plan in place that is already producing safe, quality food responsibly, while at the same time providing proper care for animals, the environment and local communities.

“We're very excited about this video because it provides an engaging way to show what Smithfield Foods, along with the rest of the pork industry, is doing to meet the challenge of providing not only sustainable food, but enough of it to feed a rapidly growing population,” says C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods.

“Sustainability represents the natural evolution of the global food system, and our industry is confident that together we can meet the worldwide demand for safe, quality food that is produced responsibly and sustainably,” Pope adds.

The new video will be made available to various audiences via social media channels, including YouTube, Facebook and SchoolTube. “We are excited to use sustainability and social media to help demonstrate our responsibility to our neighbors and our planet, while also encouraging others to join the effort,” he says.

Dennis H. Treacy, Smithfield's executive vice president and chief sustainability officer, notes that everyone involved in agriculture is well aware of “perhaps the greatest challenge of our time—feeding a global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. We need to more than double our production of food, but not increase the land or other resources we are using in the process. Nevertheless, here at Smithfield, we believe the future is bright, and we fully understand that we have a responsibility to feed the world in a sustainable way.”

Smithfield Foods is a $13 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and www.smithfieldcommitments.com.