"A family-owned pork producer founded in 1895 on the outskirts of Philadelphia, it was an early U.S. adopter of group housing and the no-crate technologies now being promoted by larger firms. The farm tested and implemented European-style electronic sow feeding (ESF) with ear-chip identification, finding it significantly improved animal care and productivity despite a slightly higher injury rate in open pens; other metrics such as medication use and sow longevity improved. The operation also experiments with systems aimed at replacing restrictive farrowing crates to allow more interaction between sows and piglets." - Lynne Curry