You feel a bit reminded of the legendary win which Muhammad Ali fought for against George Foreman -- who as the champ had been seeded 3 : 1 -- in Zaire in October 1974. At that time, Kinshasa was the scene of the greatest ever heavyweight boxing match, which Ali was able to win by a knockout in round 8.

Now the Dutch Bestmeat company, heavyweight on the European market for carcass pigs, has won the NFZ contract. Within the shortest possible period of time, an enterprise which hadn't even been on the scene a year ago incorporated the Dutch Dumeco slaughtery, the South German Moksel slaughtery and -- last but not least? -- the North German NFZ. You should however not be blind to the fact that so far this Dutch enterprise indeed has not made its money from slaughtering pigs; due to the Dutch farmers' thriftiness, it is in a position to take money from a substantial inheritance. You don't always need to try and better the world; sometimes it's enough to just be wealthy. This new multi-rich in pigs -- who rose like a phoenix from the ashes -- will certainly have to prove its market value during the months ahead. May the enterprise be successful in its work, and may it be spared the role of Ikarus who had flown too close to the sun.

Anyway, it is a fact that in future Bestmeat will definitely not allow itself the luxury of running three head offices (located at Hamburg, Buchloe and Best) which are busy with administration only. And one site or the other would certainly have to be called in question, too. Savings will, most probably, not only be done regarding the personnel. If you take a closer look at the sites which are located in the new federal states, it becomes clear that the enterprise might come to dominate the market there and be able to strengthen its standing in purchase.

Seen from the pig keepers' point of view, a new market partner -- such as, for instance, Rethmann's subsidiary Saria -- would have been the better alternative. An enterprise being well off and not yet being busy in the industry would certainly have been much more useful for competition. But after all, the pig keepers do find the current solution to be better for them than would have been an all-German cooperative, into which three market partners would have been incorporated at the same time and which would then have dominated the whole Northwest German market.

Critics, of which the ISN certainly has as many as it has supporters, never tired in the past of refusing the ISN's impartial criticism by saying that the NFZ is the farmers' property at least, or that it is our enterprise or how dare you write something like that. We will be missing any such comments in future, but the question remains to be asked seriously (quoting a German pop group named Pur): Where have all those Indians gone? It's an easy thing to shirk one's responsibility, but you can never dodge the consequences of shirking your responsibility. Many farmers now feel to be sunk by the functionaries.

The process of concentrating companies in the slaughtering industry now seriously puts the German pig keepers to the test. It is necessary to note that vertical integration, the running of one's own slaughtery company does not seem to be a cure-all wonder drug. The German pig keepers, who still want to be able to freely operate on the market tomorrow, are now being challenged. If they want to be an equal partner to the slaughtery oligopoly, the pig farmers must unite -- disregarding any personal feelings -- for finding a strategy which will help to safeguard their future.