LEASE OBLIGATIONS, COMMITMENTS AND GUARANTEES

Lease Obligations

We lease facilities and equipment under non-cancelable operating leases. The terms of each lease agreement vary and may contain renewal or purchase options. Rental payments under operating leases are charged to expense on the straight-line basis over the period of the lease. Rental expense under operating leases of real estate, machinery, vehicles and other equipment was $43.0 million, $11.7 million, $19.2 million, $47.1 million and $46.5 million in 2014, the three months ended December 29, 2013, the five months ended September 26, 2013, the twelve months ended April 28, 2013 and the twelve months ended April 29, 2012, respectively.

Future rental commitments under non-cancelable operating leases as of December 28, 2014 are as follows:



Year	(in millions)
2015	$	42.5
2016	32.7
2017	27.4
2018	22.1
2019	18.0
Thereafter	41.8
Total	$	184.5

As of December 28, 2014, future minimum lease payments under capital leases were approximately $25.2 million. The present value of the future minimum lease payments was $24.9 million. The long-term portion of capital lease obligations was $23.7 million and $24.6 million as of December 28, 2014 and December 29, 2013, respectively, and the current portion was $1.2 million and $1.2 million as of December 28, 2014 and December 29, 2013, respectively.

Commitments

We have agreements, expiring through 2022, to use cold storage warehouses owned by partnerships, of which we are 50% partners. We have agreed to pay prevailing competitive rates for use of the facilities, subject to aggregate guaranteed minimum annual fees. In 2014, the three months ended December 29, 2013, the five months ended September 26, 2013, the twelve months ended April 28, 2013 and the twelve months ended April 29, 2012, we paid $20.7 million, $4.5 million, $7.4 million, $16.6 million and $14.0 million, respectively, in fees for use of the facilities. We had investments in the partnerships of $4.2 million as of December 28, 2014 and $3.0 million as of December 29, 2013, respectively.

We have purchase commitments with certain livestock producers that obligate us to purchase all the livestock that these producers deliver. Other arrangements obligate us to purchase a fixed amount of livestock. We also use independent farmers and their facilities to raise hogs produced from our breeding stock in exchange for a performance-based service fee payable upon delivery. We estimate the future obligations under these commitments based on available commodity livestock futures prices and internal projections about future hog prices, expected quantities delivered and anticipated performance. Our estimated future obligations under these commitments are as follows:



Year	(in millions)
2015	$	1,524.3
2016	1,245.3
2017	1,090.3
2018	963.4
2019	926.2

As of December 28, 2014, we were also committed to purchase approximately $269.6 million under forward grain contracts payable in 2015.

We had $40.2 million of committed funds related to approved capital expenditure projects as of December 28, 2014. These projects are expected to be funded with cash flows from operations and/or borrowings under credit facilities.

Guarantees

As part of our business, we are a party to various financial guarantees and other commitments as described below. These arrangements involve elements of performance and credit risk that are not included in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 28, 2014. We could become liable in connection with these obligations depending on the performance of the guaranteed party or the occurrence of future events that we are unable to predict. If we consider it probable that we will become responsible for an obligation, we will record the liability on our consolidated balance sheet.

As of December 28, 2014, we continued to guarantee $7.7 million of leases that were transferred to JBS S.A. in connection with the sale of Smithfield Beef, Inc which closed in October 2008. This guaranty may remain in place until the leases expire through February 2022.