Cargill Will Temporarily Idle Two Packing Plants
Cargill announced it will temporarily idle two of its protein processing facilities for scheduled maintenance. The idling of the facilities is unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 4, 2021, Cargill will idle its Dodge City, Kansas facility and on Mach 18, 2021, it will idle its Schuyler, Nebraska facility, the company said in a news release. Both sites are primary processing operations and will be down for approximately one week to perform previously scheduled maintenance of the refrigeration systems.
Cargill’s Dodge City facility has a daily processing capacity of 5,200 head of fed cattle while the Schuyler facility has a capacity of 5,100 head per day.
“We have been in communication with producers in advance of the idling to work with them to ship cattle to other facilities within our robust supply chain or make accommodations to process as many cattle before the maintenance work commences,” said Jarrod Gillig, supply chain lead for Cargill’s North American protein business. “We will continue to fulfill all customer orders and do not anticipate disruptions to their operations.”
Working in partnership with each local union chapter, Cargill employees will be paid during the idle time as outlined in their collective agreement, the company said. To prevent food waste, each facility will process all cattle on site before the temporary idling begins.
“We greatly appreciate our employees who are working to complete this effort,” Gillig said.
