COVID

The Reasons Behind the Painful Surge in Grocery Prices

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 15:45:16 GMT

The post-Covid surge in grocery prices has been a noticeable and financially painful part of the rising U.S. cost of living. Shoppers couldn’t miss the sharp price increases, such as the doubling cost of a can of tomatoes or the significant rise in beef prices.

Economist Thomas Klitgaard from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York analyzed the causes of this increase . Here are the key findings:

Food prices

(Liberty Street Economics)

Stable prices before pandemic: The consumer price index (CPI) for food-at-home was stable for the five years prior to the pandemic, indicating little change in grocery bills from 2014 to 2019.

Sharp increases during pandemic:
• 2020: Prices rose by 4%.
• 2021: Prices increased by 6%.
• 2022: Prices jumped by 12%.

Overall, the food-at-home index increased by 25% from Q4 2019 to Q1 2023.

Key components driving price increases:
• Commodity Prices: The underlying price of commodities, especially grains, saw significant increases. This rise cascaded down to other food items like beef, pork, poultry, eggs, and dairy products.
• Wages: The wage bill at supermarkets rose substantially, contributing to higher grocery prices.

Minor Impact:

• Price gouging: Klitgaard’s analysis suggests that price gouging by companies was not a significant factor in the price increases.

Wages

(Liberty Street Economics )

Bottom line:

The surge in grocery prices was driven mainly by substantial increases in commodity prices and supermarket wages, rather than price gouging. The stability of grocery prices before the pandemic underscores the dramatic impact of these factors during the early 2020s. While grain prices have slumped since 2022, the wage bill keeps going up — with average hourly earnings up 6% in May from a year before. And Klitgaard warns that may bode ill for shoppers going forward. “An open question is whether grocery inflation can stay as moderate as it has been since early 2023 with grocery worker wage inflation still elevated,” he wrote.

Attorneys Challenge Court Decision Dismissing Tyson Workers' COVID-19 Lawsuits

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 03:54:52 GMT

Representing the estates of Tyson workers who succumbed to COVID-19 complications during the 2020 pandemic, attorneys are urging a reevaluation of a court decision that dismissed their legal actions, according to a local news source .

Judge John Sullivan ruled in October of this year that the lawsuits, brought by representatives of Kabeya “Axel” Mukendi and Felicie Joseph, lacked jurisdiction in civil court. This ruling emphasized that workplace injuries fall under the jurisdiction of the workers’ compensation system, not the judiciary.

Sullivan’s decision followed precedent of a January 2023 ruling in suits brought by representatives of Isidro Fernandez, Sedika Buljic, Reberiano Leno Garcia, and Jose Luis Ayala Jr. The court found these suits failed to establish claims of wanton neglect necessary for jurisdiction.

The news source notes Sullivan’s words in his ruling: “While the court recognizes the tragic circumstances that arose from the situation, the law requires that plaintiffs’ claims proceed under the Iowa Division of Workers’ Compensation pursuant to the IWCA. This Court lacks the subject matter jurisdiction to consider the plaintiffs’ claims.”

The opinion further states, “The court does not find that the plaintiffs have pled sufficient facts as to each individual defendant that rise to the level of gross negligence amounting to wanton neglect that would remove these matters from the jurisdiction of the Iowa Division of Workers’ Compensation.”

According to records, workers’ compensation claims, which provide limited opportunities for damages, have been filed.

Attorneys John Rausch, Thomas Frerichs, and Mel Orchard III, handling the Mukendi and Joseph cases, have reportedly requested the district to reconsider the ruling in papers filed earlier this month. However, the news source indicates that a previous challenge by attorneys in other suits was defeated in district court.

The lawsuits allege that Tyson officials misled employees at Tyson Fresh Meats in the spring of 2020 about the dangers of the coronavirus and the virus’s presence at the hog-processing facility.

SHIP IT Act Could Save Truck Drivers Up to $10,000 and Cover CDL Costs

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 19:32:55 GMT

Foreign ocean carriers were found to be leaving congested U.S. ports emptyhanded in 2021 and 2022, amid a massive supply chain gridlock. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) was established to solder the sea supply chain back together, but more needs to be done inland, according to some legislators.

Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Jim Costa (D-Ca.) on Tuesday introduced the Safer Highways and Increased Performance for Interstate Trucking (SHIP IT) Act to expand the trucking workforce and offer flexibility in times of need.

Read more: New CDL Requirements Could Cost You Up to $8,500 and Weeks of Training

“Disruptions in our trucking supply chain continue to drive up costs and create uncertainty for American consumers and producers,” said Costa. “We need to recruit, train, and retain truck drivers to keep our supply chain moving.”

What’s in it for Ag

According to the Shippers Coalition press release , passage of the SHIP IT Act will “improve the supply chain and keep costs down for consumers” by:
1. Offering authority for certain vehicle waivers during emergencies
2. Allowing truck drivers to apply for workforce grants
3. Streamlining the CDL process
4. Assisting with truck parking difficulties

“The OSRA was needed to ease the backlog at ports and the SHIP IT Act is the natural next step to continue the important work of bolstering the nation’s supply chain,” says Sean Joyce, Shippers Coalition executive director.

Read more: Walmart Will Now Pay Starting Truck Drivers $110,000, Could It Backfire and Make the Nationwide Trucker Shortage Even Worse?

21st Century Supply Chain

Michael Dykes, DVM, president and CEO of International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) , echoed Joyce, saying the SHIP IT Act is a “commonsense” solution to ongoing burdens.

“The legislation would bring the U.S. supply chain into the 21st century to meet the needs of shippers, reduce regulatory burdens that cost shippers millions of dollars a year, create good paying jobs, and support the ambitious sustainability goals of dairy businesses,” says Dykes.

According to the bill, eligible truck drivers would be granted funds to cover CDL cost, including course materials, supplies, fees for graduation, licenses and certification. Established drivers would also be granted a $7,500 tax credit, while new truck drivers would be offered a $10,000 credit.

To read the full SHIP IT Act text, click here .

Chinese Delegates Meet with Top U.S. Officials in New York

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 20:23:07 GMT

Beijing shut parks, malls and museums on Tuesday while more Chinese cities resumed mass testing for COVID-19. This news follows China’s move to rescind restrictions last week.

China reported 28,127 new domestically transmitted cases for Monday, nearing its daily peak from April, with infections in the southern city of Guangzhou and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing accounting for about half the total. The wave of infections is testing recent adjustments China has made to its zero-COVID-19 policy, aimed at making authorities more targeted in clampdown measures and steering them away from blanket lockdowns and testing that have strangled the economy and frustrated residents.

Some analysts are saying 20% of China’s economy is being negatively impacted by the lockdowns.

China’s Oil Front Amid Lockdowns

Analysts are cutting forecasts for China’s year-end oil demand after cases surged to near record levels, forcing authorities to reinstate mobility curbs, and delaying recovery at the world’s top crude importer.

“We cautiously lower our expectations for China demand by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 4Q ’22,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note. “Confidence remains high in a 2Q 23 China reopening.”

Sun Jianan, an analyst with consultancy Energy Aspects, also revised down China’s oil demand forecasts, by 200,000 bpd for November and December, and 190,000 bpd for the fourth quarter to 14.45 million bpd.

Big Trouble in Little China

The Wall Street Journal reports that a few days before Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s summit last week with President Biden, Beijing dispatched a delegation of senior policy advisers and business executives to New York to meet with a U.S. counterpart group set up by insurance executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. Such a high-level group hasn’t come to the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and in that time, U.S.-China relations plunged.

Distrust between the two countries is still high, but Xi’s approval of the delegation’s visit signals his intention to prevent the relations from going off the rails and to find a way to communicate.

Chinese officials begin meeting with counterparts from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, for the first time in months.

More on China :

China Looks to Move Away from Strict COVID-19 Restrictions as Imports, Exports Slow
U.S. Relations with China to “Elevate” Following Biden, Jingping’s First Face-to-Face Meeting on Monday
China Cites U.S. Ag for Why It’s Chosen Not to Invade Taiwan

U.S., China Container Shipping Rates Plummet 50%, Backlog of Unfilled Orders Grows

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 18:05:17 GMT

As backlogs at U.S. ports and climbing shipping rates plague the supply chain, new data shows shipping rates between the U.S and China are dropping by more than 50% in just a month.

Data provided by digital freight forwarding company Shifl shows China/U.S. spot freight rates, for shipping a 40-foot container from China to Los Angeles, dropped by $9,000. That’s a 51-percent drop between September and October.

Experts say China is slowing production due to a power crisis and the off-season coming into view, but issues remain due to a growing backlog of unfulfilled orders.

Earlier this week, AgDay reported that Port officials say strong American consumer demand has continued unabated for more than a year, as the Port of Los Angeles has seen a 30% increase in cargo volume so far this year. That’s as exports from the Port of Los Angeles dropped 23% in August.

It’s impacting agriculture in the U.S. because of record-high shipping rates. That’s coupled with the fact that some shipping lines are working to get empty containers back to factories in Asia as quick as possible.

How Do We Build a More Resilient Supply Chain?

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:57:07 GMT

Do you remember what it felt like to see news footage of empty grocery shelves last spring? For the majority of U.S. consumers, this was both a haunting and humbling experience.

The food supply chain adapted to that disruption relatively quickly. However, the pandemic revealed a bit of complacency in the chain, said Steve Nicholson, vice president and senior analyst for grains and oilseeds at Rabo AgriFinance, during the Rabobank Food and Agribusiness Summit Markets Forum.

Now the country is abuzz with adjectives such as renovated, flexible, digital, diversified, resilient, nimble, efficient and transparent to describe what our food supply chain needs to become, Nicholson said.

“Somewhere along the way, we seem to have forgotten change is the norm, not the exception. We cannot forget to keep investing and look forward as to what could be around that next corner,” he added.

No one denies the COVID-19 pandemic has ramped up changes that needed to be made in the food supply chain. Will past hesitations be set aside as the industry seeks to find ways to be more resilient in an effort to avoid a repeat of the spring of 2020?

A way to ensure continuity
Without a doubt, technology will play an important role in this transformation, said Christine McCracken, executive director, protein analyst for Rabobank. This year’s market disruption is a reminder of the global complexity of our food systems. What happens in one geography now affects everyone.

“While we can have a view about which of these challenges are temporary, and which are more structural, what is obvious is technology will be part of the solution,” McCracken said.

Agriculture has done a great job of improving efficiencies and limiting resource use through technology. But she stressed there are still vulnerabilities in the supply chain to address.

“We may need to refocus our attention and expand our innovation efforts,” she added. “Whether that’s in our packing plants or in our fields, what was once deemed efficient, is now seen as a weakness. We need to consider integrating planning tools which anticipate disruption and provide alternate sourcing and distribution options, while at the same time delivering on the growing calls for transparency from the general public.”

Technology may add cost, but it also ensures continuity of business and helps mitigate risk.

The limitation of labor
Labor challenges aren’t going away in agriculture. Whether it’s the availability of workers or the safety of our workers, McCracken said it will continue to be an ongoing issue for the industry.

“This became a focal point during the pandemic. But it’s one area where technology should have the greatest impact whether it’s robotic fruit harvesting and sorting equipment in Germany, automation of our U.S. dairy farms or the use of big data in the Southern Hemisphere, we are moving into a new era of technology adoption in agriculture, one that was pulled forward by the pandemic, but was already well underway,” she said.

The choice to automate is a relatively easy one in theory, she added.

“Machines don’t call in sick and they always work nights and weekends,” McCracken said. “But in practice, it isn’t always that straightforward. The technologies aren’t always competitive, or the trade-offs are too high. It is clear automation – both on our farms and in our plants – must be a priority. And the investments need to be made today.”

Automation obstacles
A myriad of obstacles from aging packing and processing plants to technological capabilities abound. However, McCracken said one of the biggest obstacles is a relatively fixed mindset in an industry that’s somewhat slow to change.

“The industry may not be working quite hard enough today to attract the outside-the-box thinkers we need to take the industry to the next level,” she said.

Technology will yield big dividends, not only in building trust with consumers today, but also in providing a safe and sustainable food supply for tomorrow, McCracken continued. It’s time to invest in systems and people to keep agriculture competitive on a global scale.

“The good news is we’re seeing all kinds of technologies coming through that address a lot of these vulnerabilities in the food supply chain, but what I think is most exciting is a lot of these developments are coming from people within the industry,” McCracken said.

She emphasized the importance of providing tools to the industry that will help it continue to innovate. This means more training to help people adapt to new technologies as they come available.

“It also goes back to our land-grant universities, technical schools and our high schools. We need to make sure that the next generation of agricultural leaders have the skill set that they need to be able to use and adapt to these new technologies,” McCracken said.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Is Technology the Ticket to Improve Livestock Production?

It’s Anyone’s Game: How Will the U.S. Pork Industry Diversify Pork Exports?

COVID-19 Tests Reveal Surprising Results

CDC Prioritizes Frontline Meat Workers for COVID-19 Vaccination

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:57:00 GMT

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) agrees that frontline meat and poultry workers should be some of the first vaccinated after health care workers and those in long-term care facilities.

Federal guidance was approved on Sunday by CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Priority (ACIP).

“Priority access to vaccines is a critical step for the long-term safety of the selfless frontline meat and poultry workers who have kept America’s refrigerators full and our farm economy working,” said North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) President and CEO Julie Anna Potts in a statement. She applauded ACIP’s guidance and urged state governments to follow CDC’s decision.

$1.5 billion in COVID-19 preventions and supports implemented since the earliest days of the pandemic have reversed COVID-19’s impact on meat and poultry workers, the release said. Meat Institute members have distributed tens of millions of pieces of personal protective equipment, implemented health and temperature screening, radically modified facilities, conducted testing, preemptively paid leave for high-risk and quarantined employees, enhanced air sanitation and ventilation, and much more.

Because of these efforts, COVID-19 infection rates in meat and poultry workers are now more than 8 times lower than in the general population, the Meat Institute reported.

“Meat Institute members stand ready to support vaccination for our diverse workforce, which will also deliver wide-ranging health benefits in rural and high-risk communities. Meat and poultry leaders may also be able to aid vaccination for all Americans, for example by offering state-of-the-art cold storage for these precious vaccines,” Potts said.

Prioritizing vaccination for frontline meat and poultry workers is not only supported by leaders across industry, unions and civil rights organizations, but it has also been a key consideration in multiple other countries’ vaccine distribution planning, the Meat Institute reported.

On Oct. 1, Smithfield Foods urged government leaders to prioritize COVID-19 vaccine distribution to food and agriculture workers alongside the nation’s healthcare workers and other first responders.

“Food and agriculture workers are heroes. They have been on the frontlines of the pandemic, ensuring Americans have access to safe, nutritious and affordable food, and they should be at the front of the line for a COVID-19 vaccine as well,” Smithfield wrote to government leaders.

Read more from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Smithfield Urges Prioritization of COVID-19 Vaccine to Ag Workers

Meatpacking Industry Responds to U.S. Congress Investigation

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:56:41 GMT

A U.S. Congress panel is investigating COVID-19 outbreaks at meatpacking plants nationwide, according to a statement issued on Feb. 1.

The House of Representatives Coronavirus Subcommittee approached JBS USA, Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods to provide records of inspections, complaints and other internal documents as part of its investigation into coronavirus infections and deaths in meatpacking plants.

The Subcommittee has also asked the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to provide records of its efforts to enforce worker safety rules.

James Clyburn, committee chairman, said public reports indicate that meatpacking companies have refused to take precautions to protect their workers.

But Keira Lombardo, Chief Administrative Officer at Smithfield Foods, points out there are inaccuracies and misinformation in the media on this issue. She said the company looks forward to providing the Subcommittee with correct information.

“As a critical food producer, we have taken seriously our responsibility to protect the health and safety of employees while continuing to provide food for our nation. From early in the pandemic, we have taken extraordinary measures to protect our team members from the virus and we have met or exceeded the prevailing federal, state and local health and safety guidance, including with personal protective equipment,” Lombardo said in a statement.

Public health guidance has varied widely around the world and across the U.S. throughout the pandemic, but more than $1.5 billion in comprehensive protections instituted since the spring successfully cut average case rates for meat and poultry workers five times lower in December 2020 than they were in May, while infections rocketed up by nine times for the general population in the same period, Sarah Little, Vice President of Communications for the Meat Institute, said in a statement.

“The meat and poultry industry is focused on continuing these effective protections, reaffirmed by the Biden Administration, and ensuring frontline meat and poultry workers are vaccinated as soon as possible, as employers, unions, civil rights leaders, and governments around the world agree these workers should be among the first vaccinated after healthcare workers,” Little said.

For example, Smithfield Foods alone has invested more than $700 million in critical measures to protect employees, including on-site COVID-19 pre-screening and testing facilities; air purification systems; extensive physical barriers at work stations; employee protective equipment; significant facility modifications and expansion to ensure distancing in key areas; thousands of sanitation stations and prominent banners and signage that outline and encourage safe practices in multiple languages; and the addition of new employees whose sole job is to ensure distancing and sanitation practices are implemented correctly.

They have also implemented generous leave programs and established policies and protocols to ensure that Smithfield employees are free of a COVID-19 diagnosis and must not have any symptoms of COVID-19 to report to work.

A JBS USA spokesperson said their company welcomes the opportunity to provide members of the Subcommittee information regarding its response to the global pandemic and its efforts to protect its workforce.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, JBS USA has invested more than $200 million in health and safety interventions, more than $160 million in bonuses and permanent increased pay, and donated more than $50 million to support our local communities,” a company spokesperson said.

Similarly, JBS USA has implemented hundreds of safety measures. The company provides immediate testing to all symptomatic team members and close contacts, and has conducted more than 45,000 surveillance tests of asymptomatic team members to date.

“In addition to the hundreds of safety measures implemented in our facilities, we have voluntarily removed vulnerable population groups with full pay and benefits, covered 100% of all COVID-19 related health expenses for our team members and family members enrolled in our health plan, and offered a $100 incentive bonus for any U.S. team member willing to get vaccinated,” a JBS USA spokesperson said.

The U.S. has now seen more than 26 million positive cases of the novel coronavirus, with more than 441,000 deaths.

“The virus has reached – and hurt – every part of our society. We are an integral part of communities where we operate, from coast to coast, and our measures have been successful for a sustained period of time,” Smithfield’s Lombardo said.

Farm Journal’s PORK reached out to Tyson and will update when they respond.

Read more:

U.S. Congress Panel Investigating COVID-19 Worker Safety at Meatpacking Firms

Worker Absenteeism in Packing Plants is No Surprise

COVID-19 Case Rates in Packing Plants Decline as General Population Rate Soars

Smithfield CEO: Processing Plants Must Keep Running

Community Gathers to Cheer Employees at Smithfield Pork Plant

Smithfield Foods Addresses COVID-19 Response

At a Crossroads: Where Does the Pork Industry Go Next?

Future of the Food Supply Chain: What Trends Are Sticking Around?

CDC Prioritizes Frontline Meat Workers for COVID-19 Vaccination

UFCW, Meat Institute Ask Governors to Prioritize Vaccinations

5 Hard Lessons Learned from a Year of Virtual FFA

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:56:24 GMT

As I shut the door behind me and gave her one last smile, I felt the nerves set in. I wandered around aimlessly for a while, watching the minutes pass by. Virtual FFA contests are a little weird, especially if you are a parent. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to “get lost” this past year during my daughter’s FFA activities. Instead of helping quell her nerves about in-person judging and how to “enter the room,” we’re trying to help her figure out lighting, country internet and chairs that don’t squeak or swivel to prepare for another Zoom chat.

At times I get bummed out for her – nearly her entire FFA experience has been virtual due to the pandemic. As a former FFA member, I believe some of the best parts of FFA were getting to know my fellow FFA members on long van trips to a judging contest or meeting up with other chapters in our section for contests and leadership clinics.

FFA centers around community – whether it’s meeting some of your best friends, building young people to be future leaders in agriculture or participating in competitions and being exposed to a wide network of industry leaders.

A virtual FFA community can only fill the gap so far. While I am extremely grateful FFA has worked hard to find alternative solutions and create opportunities for its members during the pandemic, I believe the very things FFA members have missed out on this year drive home the biggest reasons why FFA is so important.

1. FFA is for everyone.
As a young child, Emily Webel decided she would not be in FFA because the jackets weren’t pink. Even though her dad was an ag teacher and she grew up in an FFA family, she didn’t want to pursue a career in agriculture so she says she didn’t see the need to be in FFA. But then she met her husband Joe, an “FFA lifer” as she affectionately calls him. Since then, she’s watched how FFA has impacted her older children and she says she gets it now.

“This is a place for lots of kids – lots of kids who may not have had a place otherwise. This organization is a place where you can turn your hobby or passion or skill or just something new into a tangible path for career development. We all may not play in the NBA, but we all need to learn how to speak in public and run a meeting properly. We need welders, someone to care for animals and, you know, feed us. Those are skills that are important,” says Emily, who’s raising her family on a farm near Farmington, Ill.

2. FFA opens doors to mentors.
There is something completely hard and completely wonderful about trusting people to mentor your children. When our daughter joined FFA, we vowed we would take a step back and let her experience what it’s like to have someone besides your parents invest in your life. Why? It’s so important for kids to begin expanding their network while they are at home. As parents we play a pivotal role in bringing up our kids. Still, when someone from the outside decides to pour into you, it gives you a confidence that you just can’t get from your parents.

FFA creates many ways for mentors to interact with our young people through competitions, tours, workshops and interviews. Their advice, insight and suggestions for improvement help FFA members learn one of the most valuable lessons in life – successful people are always learning and growing.

Can you experience mentorship over Zoom? Sure. Wherever two people gather – even if it’s virtual – creates a space for growth. But as Emily points out, you just can’t replicate that same experience in a virtual space.

“Just going through pictures of our girls meeting officers at state convention is one knife to the heart that is twisting...we need people. FFA, and the ag community as a whole for that matter, is about relationships and legacies being built. We are missing that portion big time,” Emily adds.

3. FFA builds perseverance.
Eudora FFA president Cody Loganbill of Eudora, Kan., admits his FFA experience online has been a struggle at times.

“I would love to say my FFA experience has been close to perfect after being online for the past year. However, that is simply not the case. Similar to the other organizations I am involved in, communication and the desire to do new things has decreased substantially while going virtual,” Loganbill says. “Every online contest and convention has changed from an amazing opportunity to meet new people, to a chore that fewer and fewer members are willing to participate in.”

Although he is a huge supporter of FFA, he says it’s a completely different experience on a computer screen. Still, he has learned many lessons this past year.

“Virtual FFA has taught me to persevere through hard times. I believe that when our organization gets back to normal, FFA members will be more thankful for the hands-on experiences and members will be more active than ever before in contests and conventions,” Loganbill adds.

4. FFA invites collaboration.
Moving a 600-student ag department from an in-person to virtual environment was not an easy task, says Doug Simms, animal/vet science instructor at Manor ASD in the Austin, Texas area. Because Austin was considered a “hotspot,” they’ve had very little in-person learning opportunities since the pandemic struck.

Although everyone can’t wait to return to “normal,” Simms says this experience has helped him become comfortable with Zoom and has allowed him a new way to connect students with industry leaders. Google Classroom has also been a highly effective way for students to have interactive coursework.

“I really believe that the virtual component will continue to help further FFA by connecting programs large and small to one another and will further empower our young people to be the future leaders of agriculture,” Simms says.

The virtual learning environment helped FFA members become more self- sufficient and discover new ways to collaborate, says Joe Webel, lead grain originator, nutrition services at The Maschhoffs and a member of the Illinois FFA Foundation Board of Directors.

“The state and national FFA organizations have done as good of a job as possible to find ways to provide online positives for their memberships. However, it’s a real shame for those young people elected to serve as state and national officers that they are not getting the normal experience either,” Joe says.

5. FFA is a bridge to more.
Sadly, the time FFA members lost during the pandemic won’t be returned. But that said, Joe believes the strongest leaders and top students with committed teachers have found a way to overcome the challenges of the pandemic and have continued to do so.

“Some students have spent the time individually to prepare and compete in the altered environment and have been able to get a positive experience from that. The top 10% of kids that would thrive in the previous normal environment have found a way to be involved and continue to build their skills, even in this ‘altered’ environment,” Joe says.

He is concerned this virtual environment has not been able to serve the giant “middle of the pack” with positive experiences they would have had during a normal year. For example, he describes the kids that go along for the ride one time to fill out a team and realize they like the experience they received. This discovery can start a chain reaction of greater service and engagement.

“These kids represent a big chunk of our schools, and during the COVID shutdown, they didn’t get anything. No matter how much coaxing and urging the instructors on the other side the camera pleaded that ‘We’re all in this together,’ they didn’t answer the call,” Joe says. “Maybe they lack the support and push at home to be a self-starter, or just need that daily in-person contact with a teacher to remember they are cared for, but those souls are the ones that have been left behind during this year.”

Of course, this is not just an FFA issue, he adds. It will be interesting to see what happens when more activities can be held in person and a sense of normalcy returns.

I don’t know when or if normal will return. But if you believe in the life-changing power of FFA, find someone in the middle of the pack (or on the fringe) you can encourage to get more involved. Take time to check in on them and link them to other kids in FFA, ask questions about their supervised agricultural experience, encourage them to try a career development event or simply share your FFA story and how the things you learned through FFA have made a difference in your life today. Sometimes the best thing we can do is reach out and invite others to experience more.

Read more from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Ag Teachers: When Someone Believes in You

5 Lessons FFA Taught Your Mother

Unpopular County Fair Opinion

More Than a Jacket: Karlene Krueger’s FFA Journey

It Takes All of Us

A Little Peace in the Struggle

Tyson Pilots Program to Open Health Centers for Employees

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:55:55 GMT

As part of efforts to boost the overall health and wellness of its workforce, Tyson Foods, Inc. is partnering with Marathon Health to pilot seven “Bright Blue” health centers near company production facilities, according to a Tyson release . The health centers will give Tyson team members and their families easier access to high-quality healthcare and, in most cases, at no cost.*

The health centers, operated by Marathon Health, provide primary and preventive care, including health screenings, lifestyle coaching and health education, as well as behavioral health counseling. They also coordinate with plant community health providers, including primary care physicians and specialists, to make sure appropriate care is delivered.

Tyson reports that naming the health centers, “Bright Blue,” is intended to convey the outlook of a bright future thanks to easily accessible healthcare and the company’s familiar heritage color, blue.

The first health center opened April 28 in Dyersburg, Tenn., near the company’s facility in Newbern. Additional pilot locations will be opening in Green Forest, Ark.; Lexington, Neb.; Wilkesboro, N.C.; Center, Texas; Storm Lake, Iowa; and Garden City, Kan. These seven locations will serve nearly 38,000 Tyson team members and their families.

“We’re piloting these health centers to promote a culture of health and wellness in our company that results in a healthier workforce,” said Dr. Claudia Coplein, chief medical officer for Tyson Foods. “Some of our frontline team members aren’t using their health plan benefits, and others don’t seek care until there’s a crisis. We want to change that by providing access to care that can help detect health conditions early and promote healthy habits.”

The clinics will work in conjunction with plant community health providers, including primary care physicians and specialists, to ensure appropriate care is delivered, the release said.

The pilot health center project is an expansion of Tyson’s current workplace safety and is an addition to existing health services staff, which includes on-site occupational health nurses at most plant locations.

The health clinics are the latest in a series of measures Tyson has taken to invest in the health and wellness of its employees. Since spring 2020, the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to transform its U.S. facilities with protective measures, the release said.

To date, more than 40,000 Tyson Foods employees have been vaccinated at more than 100 events held onsite at Tyson facilities or in nearby community facilities. In preparation for vaccinations, Tyson said the company has been providing expert resources and education about the vaccine to team members.

*Team members enrolled in a high deductible health (HDHP) plan will pay a fee for visits until deductible is met. This applies to less than 2% of eligible team members.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

New Program Assesses Tyson Foods’ COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Efforts

Tyson Bans Ractopamine

FAQs on COVID-19 Vaccination with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:55:55 GMT

To answer common questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. Surgeon General vice admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy joined AgriTalk on May 4. This was the same day President Joe Biden shared the goal for 70% of adults in America to have had at least one shot of the vaccine by July 4.

“The progress report is good,” Murthy says. “We have made tremendous progress in vaccinating the country to date. If you look at people above the age of 65, we’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine into more than 80%, which is pretty extraordinary. And we have about 70% of our seniors who are now fully vaccinated.”

But even with those 150 million people who have had at least one shot, Murthy says the country needs to have another 100 million shots administered in the next 60 days to reach the president’s next goal by July 4.

You can listen to the full interview with Murthy here:

On the segment, Murthy answered several commonly asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine:

Do we have enough supply?

“Here in America, we have done a good job of bolstering our supply. So we do have more and more vaccine available for those who want it. And we also, very importantly, have more places where you can get a vaccine.”

What is being done to increase access to the vaccine?

“There are over 40,000 pharmacies in the country that now have vaccine to offer. We have community vaccination sites, we have community health centers where we’ve actually directly delivered vaccine from the federal government and we’ve got more primary care doctors who are getting vaccine direct-ly in their offices so they can give it to patients. The President and the administration will be providing more direct funding and support to rural health clinics to support outreach as well as direct allocation of vaccine to rural health clinics so they can directly vaccinate their own patients.”

How is access being improved specifically to rural America?

“We know rural areas are different from urban areas, people are more spread out, it’s not always as easy to travel to one location that’s close to everyone to get a vaccine. So we’ve got to work through some of those logistical barriers, which is why the funding for the rural health clinics and for these mobile units is so important. But we also know everyone looked gets information from different sources. We’re a big country. Not everyone listens to the same news station, radio station and that means we’ve got to do more work in getting information out, and particularly through people’s doctors, which is the reason behind one of the projects we launched. From my office and other offices in the government it’s something called COVID-19 Community Core, where we bring together doctors, nurses, faith leaders, local business leaders and others to get the accurate information they know they and their communities want and to be able to share that with them.

In addition to people trusting the doctors and nurses who take care of them, we know about 50% of people say they would take the advice of a family member or friend when it comes to making a decision on the vaccine. What that means is even if you don’t have a medical degree or a nursing degree, you can still be a vital force in helping people understand the vaccines we have for COVID-19 are a way to protect them against COVID and a way, ultimately, for us to help turn this pandemic around.”

Why are people hesitant to get the vaccine?

“We’ve seen a lot of news stories about people being hesitant to get the vaccine. But what we’re finding actually is people who haven’t gotten vaccinated yet it’s a combination of a few things. Some people have questions, which are important to answer. We want people to get answers from reliable sources, like their doctors or their nurses who take care of them. But we also know some people are wondering if it’s really that important for them to get vaccinated. Maybe they’re young and healthy, and they think, ‘Hey, I’m not at high risk of a bad outcome, do I really need to get this vaccine?’, or maybe they’re working two or three jobs and don’t have transportation to get to a vaccine center.

We’re trying to work on all three fronts to make sure we’re working closely with doctors and nurses around the country, as well as pastors and other faith leaders, to help get information to their com-munities. But we’re also trying to improve the number of access points so it’s easier and easier hope-fully over the weeks ahead for people to get vaccines in their pharmacy, in their doctor’s office or in their neighborhoods.”

Should people who have had COVID-19 get vaccinated?

“The answer is yes. And here’s why. It turns out the immunity you get from a natural infection is actually not as robust. It’s not as strong as the protection you get from the vaccine. So you’re more likely to be at risk for reinfection. That’s why we’re asking everyone to get vaccinated regardless of their prior infection.”

What if people still have questions?

“I always say our health is personal to us. And if you have questions, you absolutely have a right to get those questions answered because ultimately, it’s your health. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind about the vaccine.

Recognize 90% of doctors in this country have either gotten the vaccine or are planning to get it as soon as possible. That tells you about the faith the medical profession has in the vaccine.
Keep in mind these vaccines, even though it seems like they were developed on a quick timeframe, the technology behind them has been in development for decades.
We are lucky enough to see the culmination of that research, and these vaccines have been studied rigorously in clinical trials and what we’ve seen with nearly 150 million people having received at least one dose of the vaccine is this side effect profile remains really strong in terms of safety. The effectiveness remains extraordinarily strong and high as well. That’s what you want to see — high effectiveness and very low risk in any vaccine you take.
I know many people are worried about the side effects of the vaccine. But first of all, the vast majority of people don’t have side effects from this vaccine. Those who do tend to experience one to two days of flu-like symptoms, meaning fatigue, maybe a low-grade fever and a body ache, but that lasts for about a day or two. Then it goes away, and they feel pretty good. Afterward what you’re left with is protection from the vaccine.

“It’s certainly a blessing to be able to serve the country, especially at a time like this during this pandemic crisis. I’m eager to do everything I can to help,” Murthy says.

Lawmakers Reject Mandated Virus Protections for Nebraska Meatpacking Workers

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:55:50 GMT

A Nebraska bill (LB241) has been delayed that would have extended COVID-19 protections for meatpacking workers for another year.

Lawmakers voted 25-18 on May 18 to delay the bill through the end of the year, according to a report from WOWT-TV in Omaha, Neb. Gov. Pete Ricketts expressed concerns about the bill’s mandates. Opponents argued packing plants have taken precautions and the pandemic is nearly over. Supporters claim it’s critical to keep plant employees safe.

According to Sen. Julie Slama of Peru, the bill establishes an unnecessary set of requirements for meatpacking plants and will hinder the industry, WOWT-TV reports.

Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, whose district includes the Tyson plant in Dakota City, told The Lincoln Journal Star that it was in the companies’ interests to keep workers healthy and safe. She shared a letter from Tyson outlining the steps the company had taken to protect employees from the spread of the virus.

The bill’s author, Sen. Tony Vargas of South Omaha, said he’s concerned that this high-risk population could face COVID variants, claiming all it would do is put up guardrails. He said he doesn’t understand the opposition, since colleagues have been putting guardrails into place on issues with less data than the risk facing meatpacking workers, WOWT-TV reports.

The legislation would have mandated a reconfiguration of lunchrooms, break rooms and locker rooms to allow six feet of social distancing wherever possible. Processors would also have been required to provide face masks, sanitation stations and testing.

Read more:

Tyson Foods Partners with LULAC to Encourage Vaccination

Smithfield Foods Prepares for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution to U.S. Employees

Smithfield Urges Prioritization of COVID-19 Vaccine to Ag Workers

Tyson Foods Partners with LULAC to Encourage Vaccination

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:55:50 GMT

More than 44,000 Tyson Foods employees have been vaccinated to date. The company recently hosted League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) CEO Sindy Benavides to an on-site COVID-19 vaccination event for nearly 200 Tyson employees in Houston.

Benavides met with Tyson workers to encourage vaccine participation and promote LULAC’s mission, the company said in a release . LULAC is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S. The organization is diligently working to support essential workers in the food industry and ensure they have access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 525,000 workers in 3,500 meat processing facilities nationwide, 44% or 231,000 are Latino,” Benavides said in the release. “We applaud Tyson Foods for being at the forefront of on-site vaccination programs which are proving to be the most successful. We all share the same goal of promoting the health and safety of America’s essential workers as they help nourish our nation.”

Tyson reports that 28% of its employees identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Tyson is offering free, on-site vaccination events that include family members of employees as well as others living in their homes. Although vaccinations for team members are voluntary, the release said they are highly encouraged.

To prepare team members for vaccinations, Tyson has been providing resources and education about the vaccine. This information is available in multiple languages and team members also have access to a hotline to ask questions. The company is also compensating workers for up to four hours of regular pay if they are vaccinated outside of their normal shift or through an external source.

Read More:

Tyson Pilots Program to Open Health Centers for Employees

Tyson Foods Mandating COVID-19 Vaccinations for U.S. Employees

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:55:28 GMT

Tyson Foods announced Tuesday that it is requiring its team members in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 1, 2021, and all other team members are required to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1, 2021, subject to continued discussions with locations represented by unions, a company release says.

“Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the single most effective thing we can do to protect our team members, their families and their communities,” said Dr. Claudia Coplein, chief medical officer, Tyson Foods, in the release. “With rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts of contagious, dangerous variants leading to increasing rates of severe illness and hospitalization among the U.S. unvaccinated population, this is the right time to take the next step to ensure a fully vaccinated workforce.”

This requirement makes the company the largest U.S. food company to require vaccinations against the coronavirus for its entire workforce. It says that almost 50% of its U.S. workforce has been vaccinated and infection rates among its team members remain low.

The company has hosted more than 100 vaccination events for its workers since February and more than 56,000 U.S. team members have been vaccinated so far, the release says. Additional onsite vaccination events will be scheduled, and the company will continue to collaborate with local health departments and healthcare providers to make the vaccine more accessible.

Tyson Foods also notes in the release that it will provide $200 to its frontline team members, subject to ongoing discussions with locations represented by unions, which it says is an expansion of Tyson Foods’ existing policy to compensate workers for up to four hours of regular pay if they are vaccinated outside of their normal shift or through an external source.

Exceptions to the mandate will be available for workers who seek medical or religious accommodation, it says.

Union Pushback

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which is the union for 250,000 meatpacking and food processing workers and includes 24,000 Tyson meatpacking workers across the country, says it has “serious concerns” about the vaccination mandate.

“UFCW is proud to say that we have high vaccination rates among our unionized food workers across the country, and as a result, we have helped reduce COVID-19 infection rates in many of our industries, including meatpacking. While we support and encourage workers getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, and have actively encouraged our members to do so, it is concerning that Tyson is implementing this mandate before the FDA has fully approved the vaccine,” says UFCW international president Marc Perrone.

“As the union for Tyson meatpacking workers, UFCW has made clear that this vaccine mandate must be negotiated so that these workers have a voice in the new policy. UFCW will be meeting with Tyson in the coming weeks to discuss this vaccine mandate and to ensure that the rights of these workers are protected, and this policy is fairly implemented. We believe the FDA must provide full approval of the vaccines and help address some of the questions and concerns that workers have. Additionally, employers should provide paid time off so that their essential workers can receive the vaccine without having to sacrifice their pay and can rest as needed while their body adjusts to the vaccine and strengthens their immune system to fight off the virus,” Perrone’s statement continues.

A memo from Tyson Foods president and CEO Donnie King to team members can be read here .

To date, Tyson Foods says it has spent more than $700 million related to COVID-19 mitigation, including buying personal protective equipment and temperature scanners, installing protective barriers and providing onsite testing and vaccinations. It also partnered with an independent medical provider to bring medical services onsite, hired an additional 200 nurses and its first chief medical officer, the release says. It has also spent time educating team members, in many languages, about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccination.

House Subcommittee: Coronavirus Infections at U.S. Meat Plants Far Higher Than Previous Estimates

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:54:57 GMT

By Leah Douglas

Cases and deaths from COVID-19 among workers at the leading U.S. meatpacking plants were three times as high as previously estimated, according to a report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis seen by Reuters.

The subcommittee surveyed major meatpackers Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, National Beef, and Smithfield Foods, which together control over 80% of the beef market and 60% of the pork market in the United States.

At those companies’ plants, worker cases of COVID-19 totaled 59,147 and deaths totaled 269, based on counts through January of this year, according to the report, which was expected to be released later on Wednesday.

That is far higher than a previous estimate by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), which had been used by government agencies and media throughout the pandemic, according to the report. FERN had counted 22,694 cases and 88 deaths among workers at the five companies as of Sept. 8, primarily drawing on data from news reports and public health agencies.

The meatpacking industry was especially hard hit by COVID-19 in part because its workers tend to be in close proximity for long hours in often messy conditions.

The new data comes from company calculations of worker cases primarily based on testing done within company facilities, meaning some infections identified through other health providers could have been excluded.

Cases were especially high at certain plants, including JBS’s Hyrum, Utah, beef plant and Tyson’s Amarillo, Texas, beef plant, where around 50% of workers contracted the virus, according to the report.

The report also included new details of lax safety protocols at some of the plants.

In May 2020 at Tyson’s Amarillo plant, for instance, workers wore masks “saturated” with sweat, were not socially distanced and were separated by “plastic bags on frames” instead of CDC-compliant barriers, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) memo obtained by the Subcommittee.

Both Tyson and JBS said in statements on Wednesday they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on COVID-19 health and safety efforts.

Cargill said in a statement it was “saddened by the tragic impacts of this virus on our colleagues and the communities in which we operate.”

Officials from National Beef and Smithfield were not immediately available for comment.

The subcommittee report also suggested the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had not done enough to protect workers in the meat industry from the virus.

OSHA staff told the subcommittee that under Trump, the agency’s leadership made a political decision not to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) that would have required meatpackers to take certain safety precautions, the report said.

“Without being held to any specific standard, meatpacking companies were left with largely unchecked discretion to determine how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, to the detriment of meatpacking workers,” the report said.

(Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Howard Goller)

John Phipps: Why a Startling New Trend with Chicken Wings is Worth Watching

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 17:24:11 GMT

The decades-long story of U.S. meat consumption can be summed up in the question “How many nuggets can kids eat anyway?” Propelled by deep-fried cooking speed and an entire menu of sauces, chicken’s inoffensive taste made it a perfect fit for picky kids or eating on the run. Of course, the fact that in the past chicken was consistently priced well below red meat has something to do with it too.

(Farm Journal)

This is what pork and beef producers have been staring at - and poultry producers celebrating - for my entire life. On top of this trend, wings happened, and chicken consumption dove into a brave new sauce. I’m not dismissing the remarkable feats of the chicken industry, but I never really understood the appeal of wings.

For example, they rank with ribs for messy eating. They have a low ratio of nutrition obtained to work involved – right up there with blue crabs. I didn’t even know where the “buffalo” name came from until I read about a bar in Buffalo, where they were supposedly invented in 1964. Then the pandemic triggered an explosion in deliverable foods. Wings could travel well so to speak. They became linked to major ball games since they could wait patiently in a warming pan while a 60 minute game is crammed into a four-hour television marathon. They became the priciest part of the chicken after languishing below breast prices for years. At one time they were simply ground into animal feed. But maybe all the hot sauce has caught up to us because wings are coming back to earth.

(Farm Journal)

This is a tiny light in a long dark tunnel for other protein producers, but maybe we’re exhausting the ways to flavor up chicken to compete with red meat.

Read More:

Will Chicken Wing Shortage Open Doors for More Pig Wing Sales?

Report Distorts Truth About Worker Safety During Pandemic, Meat Institute Says

Thu, 12 May 2022 19:37:58 GMT

At the height of the pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to “stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as COVID-19 spread rapidly among workers,” a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis’ partisan report said Thursday.

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) says this report distorts the truth about the meat and poultry industry’s work to protect employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Meat Institute and its member companies voluntarily provided hundreds of thousands of pages to the Committee. The report ignores the rigorous and comprehensive measures companies enacted to protect employees and support their critical infrastructure workers,” says Julie Anna Potts, president and CEO of the Meat Institute.

Like many industries, the meat and poultry industry was challenged by the pandemic in the spring of 2020, Potts explains.

“As more became known about the spread of the virus, the meat industry spent billions of dollars to reverse the pandemic’s trajectory, protecting meat and poultry workers while keeping food on Americans’ tables and our farm economy working,” Potts says in a news release.

But the report said meat companies pushed to keep their plants open even though they knew workers were at high risk of catching the virus, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The lobbying led to health and labor officials watering down their recommendations for the industry and culminated in an executive order President Donald Trump issued in the spring of 2020 designating meat plants as critical infrastructure needing to remain open.

“The House Select Committee has done the nation a disservice,” Potts says. “The Committee could have tried to learn what the industry did to stop the spread of COVID among meat and poultry workers, reducing positive cases associated with the industry while cases were surging across the country. Instead, the Committee uses 20/20 hindsight and cherry picks data to support a narrative that is completely unrepresentative of the early days of an unprecedented national emergency.”

Read More:

Worker Absenteeism in Packing Plants is No Surprise

Beef, Pork and Lamb See Strong Export Totals in Q1

Maintaining the Food Supply Chain While Protecting Worker Safety Measures

Walmart Will Now Pay Starting Truck Drivers $110,000, Could It Backfire and Make the Nationwide Trucker Shortage Even Worse?

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 20:21:05 GMT

Trucking gained broad interest thanks to the big screen in the late 1970s. As Hollywood produced movies like “Smokey and the Bandit,” the trucking industry was widely talked about. Today, the tune has changed, and it’s a job that doesn’t boast the glamour it once did.

“We don’t have a ton of young people or other people just dying to get into the trucking industry,” says Kelly Krapu, safety director and compliance officer for TrueNorth Compliance Services. “It’s no longer a glamorous gig that people really want to get into anymore. So, we are going to continue to see shortages.”

Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic brought some businesses to a halt, supply chain issues continue to play out. A lack of drivers currently plaguing the trucking industry is one of those factors still impacting the supply chain.

“We’re currently about 80,000 drivers short in the trucking industry,” says Krapu. “In 10 years, they’re thinking it’s closer to 250,000 to 300,000 jobs that we’re going to be short in the trucking industry.”

As safety director and compliance manager, Krapu helps truck drivers and trucking companies navigate the regulations that have a tight grip on truckers today.

“I think we’re losing drivers not only to those short-haul drives or short-haul careers, but other careers that they can be in a more controlled environment and a little bit safer and more conducive to a family life,” she adds.

Walmart recently announced it’s upping starting salaries for the company’s truck drivers to between $95,000 to $110,000 a year, which is up from the current average starting salary of $87,000. The Wall Street Journal reports Walmart will also offer workers in other departments training to become a certified truck driver.

“It’s the latest sign of how big retailers are using their size to take greater control of their own supply chains as bottlenecks, capacity constraints and rising prices roil logistics operations,” reports Farm Journal Washington analyst Jim Wiesemeyer.

Training is another hurdle for attracting new truck drivers into the industry. In February, a new federal CDL requirement hit the trucking industry , which will require anyone obtaining a new CDL to go through weeks of training. The course will cost you up to $10,000.

Krapu says the rule was actually passed in 2018, but the industry kept seeing extensions until it actually went into effect this year. Without either the current Biden administration or the previous Trump administration stepping in to halt the new regulations, it could now cost those looking to get a CDL or upgrade to a Class A license, both time and money. The amount of time and course fee will vary by what type of license an individual is trying to obtain.

“If you need a Class A and all of the endorsements that would go with it, that’s 21 days of training and larger amounts of money at $8,500 to $10,000,” says Krapu.

Krapu says agriculture is exempt, as long as the driver stays within the 150-mile-radius air bubble. However, if you travel outside that zone, even for agricultural purposes, that’s when the new regulations could be stifling.

“If you were to go outside that 150 air miles to take corn to a grain elevator that’s outside the 150 miles, all of the federal regulations would apply to you. And that would include the commercial driver’s license requirement,” she says.

From new CDL requirements to vaccine mandates that impact truckers going across the border to Canada, Krapu says some truck drivers are finding better paying jobs that also allow better work-life balance.

“We’re losing drivers to non-truck driving jobs that are local,” says Krapu. “They can go work in a warehouse pulling packages for the same amount of money and very little risk.”

China Can't Control Latest COVID-19 Outbreak, and It Could Now Constrict Containers at World's Busiest Port

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 18:08:30 GMT

The commodity markets came under pressure to start the week as traders tried to shed risk over shipping concerns in China. The bearish sentiment was driven by fresh COVID-19 concerns in China that caused officials to shut down transportation amid a two-pronged lockdown.

Government officials in Shanghai announced rolling lockdowns in order to conduct coronavirus testing. In the city of 26 million people, residents will be barred from leaving their homes. There’s concern any suspension of commercial activity in Shanghai will have global ripple effects.

The city is one of China’s primary centers for finance, manufacturing and trade. Shanghai has been the world’s busiest port when it comes to container volumes since 2010.

Even though Chinese state media says the port continues to operate, other reports say that trucking services in and out of the city will be severely impacted...and several warehouses are closed.

All this is coming as officials work to contain an outbreak of a highly transmissible Omincron variant. The restrictions are in place until Tuesday, April 3, 2022.

EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Fauci on COVID Pandemic — "It Will End"

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 21:38:57 GMT

The omicron variant surge of COVID-19 might appear to be cresting in some big cities, but the latest wave is far from over, especially in many rural communities, says Dr. Anthony Fauci. The chief medical adviser to President Biden says smaller towns should expect omicron outbreaks to increase in the coming weeks.

“When you have an outbreak of a new variant, there’s a delay,” says Dr. Fauci regarding rural outbreak trends. “Rather than have the sharp peak and then come down, you sort of gradually go up and then come back down.”

In a one-on-one interview with Farm Journal Editor and AgDay TV host, Clinton Griffiths, Dr. Fauci says as vaccination numbers and unvaccinated COVID survivors increase the pandemic will end.

“It will end. I can guarantee you and your viewers it will end hopefully sooner rather than later,” Dr. Fauci says. “We will reach a point where the virus will be low enough in the community as to not have any impact on what we do, so we can get ourselves back to some form of normality and it doesn’t interrupt the economy or interrupt our way of life. That’s what we’re hoping we’re going to see within a reasonable period of time.”

(Watch Full Interview Above)

The highly transmissible omicron variant has helped to push COVID-19 positive rates higher since late fall. The weekly rolling average of COVID-19 deaths is now at 1,700. That’s about half what it was in January 2021.

“If you look at the devastation in this country thus far, we’ve had 850,000 deaths and about 66 million cases,” Dr. Fauci says.

New models from the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub , created by university and health experts, which now factor in the omicron variant, expect up to 2.38 million hospitalizations and 304,000 deaths, at worst, and 409,000 hospitalizations and 54,000 deaths, at best, from mid-December through mid-March. Those models show the omicron peak sometime between February and March.

(Farm Journal)

“To be sure, there are breakthrough infections, namely, people get vaccinated and even boosted, and they may get infected,” says Dr. Fauci. “For the most part, though, those infections are either without symptoms or minimally symptomatic.”

Dr. Fauci says in many, but not all, rural areas, vaccination rates are lower compared with the rest of the country. While strongly advocating for vaccines and boosters to prevent hospitalization or severe illness, Dr. Fauci recognizes all immunity will ultimately work together against the coronavirus.

“I think when you get a situation of more and more people getting vaccinated and boosted or unfortunately, people getting sick or getting infected, then recovering and having a degree of protection, if you combine those two, there will be enough protection in the country,” says Fauci in reference to an eventual end of the pandemic.

The federal government is now offering free coronavirus test kits to some Americans. Those with a valid residential address can go to COVIDTests.gov to get one set of four free at-home COVID tests starting in late January.

Feedlot Producer: Cattle Industry Has Never Been As Bad As Now

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 19:35:20 GMT

Cattle feedlots are running out of space, and several processing plants are running at a low capacity or closed. Washington D.C. could soon take action.

Drovers reports there’s a proposal developed by Beef Alliance that would fund placing feedlot cattle on a maintenance diet for 75 days. The proposal, called the Fed Cattle Set-Aside Program, would seek to alleviate the risk of massive economic collapse in the beef cattle industry.

It is an organization of commercial cattle feeders with members in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and the Pacific Northwest. According to Farm Journal Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer the proposal is floating around Washington and the cattle industry.

“They are calling it a concept paper even though the title when you get it says final,” says Wiesemeyer. “It just got to the House and Senate Ag Committee a few days ago. A lot of people are not commenting on whether they agree or disagree with it. I will tell you the key barometer will supposedly come later this week. We want to see what the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has to say about this proposal.”

Wiesemeyer says the program may need legislative authority. The proposed payment rate for cattle in the Set-Aside program will be fixed at $2.90 per head per day. It is intended to offset additional feed and operating costs incurred by holding cattle back from slaughter for 75 days.

A new report from CoBank says even if the reduced processing capacity at the nation’s beef and pork plants is temporary, the effects will likely have a lasting impact on the entire meat industry.

The company’s economist estimates meat supplies at grocery stores could shrink nearly 30% by Memorial Day, leading to prices rising by as much as 20%. However, some cattle producers say they are barely hanging on due to futures prices.

Iowa feed yard operator Jeff Pruess has been in the business for decades but says it was hard to prepare for 2020.

“It has always been a tough business but it’s never been worse than it is now,” says Pruess, based in Clarence, Iowa.

COVID-19 is complicating issues in the cattle market. Plants are significantly slowing down production or closing down as well.

“On the beef side, over the last three weeks, we have produced about 300 million pounds less beef than we did in the same period one year ago,” says Oklahoma State University Extension specialist Derrell Peel.

Feedlots are staying full and cattle are getting larger with limited places to go.                 

“It’s been really hard to sell any cash cattle in this area for about five weeks,” says Pruess. “We are burning up equity at a fast rate. If something doesn’t change, it’s going to force us out of business.”

Live cattle futures contracts are trading less than a dollar as boxed beef values continue to break records due to retail buying at the grocery store.

According to CZ CattleMarket Analytics, the daily spot choice box beef cutout ended the week on Friday, May 1, at $377.45— that’s $84.08 higher compared to the previous Friday. On the same Friday last year, boxed beef was $227.36. On Thursday afternoon, the Choice cutout was $458.54.

Pruess says, “[Boxed beef is] over $3.60 per hundred and the best bid you can find is $1? That’s limited, [that price] is more like 93 cents, 94 cents or 95 cents. At what point is something going to be done?”

It’s severe enough [where] there’s people generally concerned about their livelihood. People I thought I’d never have to worry about,” says Phil Reemtsma, a cow-calf producer, feedlot operator and veterinarian in eastern Iowa.

The creators of the Sterling Profit Tracker, which estimates packer and producer margins saying they will not release a report this week because the model used “does not adequately account for those added costs.”

According to hedgersedge.com, packer profit margin estimates are well over $700 per head. However, that estimated number may not be exact because it doesn’t account for changes as plants aren’t running at full capacity and changing labor costs.

“We can lose between $200, $300 or even $400 per head,” says Pruess. “[It] depends on how we end up selling these cattle the next few weeks.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) says the cattle market could lose more than $13 billion due to the coronavirus. Relief is on the way for producers. There is agriculture relief money through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES). The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would issue payments to producers affected by the virus.

Many want the packers to pay what they feel is a fair price.

Reemtsma says, “How about instead of paying 95 cents and boxed beef is $360, how about [the packer pays] a $1.20 or $1.25 [to make producers whole] rather than the government bailing [producers] out? 

The wide margin is gaining attention.

Drovers reported President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday he has asked the Justice Department to look into allegations that U.S. meat packers broke antitrust laws because the prices paid to farmers and ranchers have declined even as meat prices rose, Reuters reports.

“I’ve asked the Justice Department to look into it. ... I’ve asked them to take a very serious look into it, because it shouldn’t be happening that way and we want to protect our farmers,” the president said at a White House event attended by Secretary Perdue and Iowa governor Kim Reynolds.

Before the president’s words, many organizations sent a letter to the Department of Justice last month asking for an investigation on price fixing by the meat packing industry. The letter alleges four companies control more than 80 percent of beef processing.

USDA already lumped the COVID-19 crisis into the Holcomb, Kansas, investigation.

“Rest assured, if the investigation yields any evidence of any violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act, we will begin immediate and necessary enforcement action and appropriate initial referrals to the Department of Justice for further consultation,” Sonny Perdue told the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in April.

There are concerns contracts at the CME are not reflective of the cattle market on a day-to-day basis. Reemtsma says the pricing tools are dysfunctional because of market volatility. He says increased fund participation doesn’t help.

Reemtsma says, “You have the funds in there using it as their own personal playground to drive the market one way or another all to make a bunch of money for themselves.”

NCBA says the risk management tool needs to return to being a good producer risk-management tool.

“The futures markets were put in place to try to help producers hedge their risk,” Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said on AgDay this past March. “You need liquidity in the market, you need people that are speculators, somebody [who] doesn’t actually own or produce a commodity to jump in and to help make those markets work. What we see right now, we have a number of hedge funds, a number of entities that are utilizing an algorithmic or formula-based trading. When they do that, they no longer worry about a Cattle on Feed report, they no longer worry about a weather report. They no longer look at demand because that computer is looking at a formula of when it should buy and when it should sell.”

In a statement, the CME Group says, “CME Group is actively engaged with market participants and trade organizations to ensure that our products remain effective hedging tools for the commercial hedger during this time of unprecedented market conditions. CME Group operates a comprehensive surveillance program to ensure our markets function as designed, provide price discovery, and facilitate risk transfer.”

The CME Group says prices do not determine packer margins and futures price represents the price of live cattle delivered to the packer. Therefore, the price of boxed beef and packer margins are determined by the packer and the price at which they sell the finished product.

In the meantime, feed yards continue to feed cattle and will see where the industry lands after COVID-19.

 

 

Cutting Into The Center Of Meat Processors' Labor Pains, This State Is Rolling Out A Hot Dog Factory On Wheels

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 17:43:40 GMT

In July, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $500 million in new funds to expand meat processing capacity across the U.S., funds designed to be used to help small and medium processing operations. And while details of how that money will be dispersed are still being ironed out, the funds could provide a major boost to help revive small and medium size plants.

A current meat processing plant being built in the Midwest, which will have the capacity to process up to 40 head of cattle per week and 80 hogs, is costing around $8 million to build today. A smaller facility that recently opened, which processes 50 head of cattle per week and tapped into technology to help the quality of meat processed, came in at a price tag of $3 million.

While the money could answer a major need, it doesn’t solve the biggest pain point for meat processors of all sizes today: a shortage of labor.

“One thing that we did learn during the pandemic is that this is a nation of meat eaters, and demand was quite high,” says Bryon Wiegand, division director, Department of Animal Science at the University of Missouri.

As the pandemic caused some restaurants to shut down, the return to freezer beef and pork became a craze. And a favorite of Columbia, Mo., carnivores is a student-run meat processing facility located right on the University’s campus.The Mizzou Meat Market is a mainstay on the University of Missouri campus, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became an essential source for shoppers searching for protein.

“Here at the Mizzou Meat Market, we actually got permission to stay open as an essential business through the University,” says Wiegand. “I would argue that we probably had our best sales year ever in 2020, and into 2021.”

The influx of consumer demand wasn’t just happening here, but at local meat processors across the state and country.

“It wasn’t that there wasn’t product in the pipeline, but the pipeline got wrinkled up, essentially,” points out Wiegand.

And as those processors continued to be pinched for labor, the state of Missouri stepped in with $20 million dollars to help support small processors across the state through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or what’s referred to as the CARES Act.

“That was anything from upgrading their refrigeration to expanding coolers, essentially. The idea was that we were going to increase slaughter capacity at the local level,” says Wiegand. “That effort, I would argue, was successful in that they did award $70 million of those funds. And we actually took on 27 new inspected facilities in the state.”

Mobile Processing Unit

With $3 million still unused, Missouri Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn asked Wiegand for ideas to put that $3 million to work, crafting a grant in just six weeks.

“We started the brainstorming and went back to something we looked at for a long time. And that was a workforce development program in meat processing to help support that shortfall that we just discussed in the labor pool,” he says.

With one part of the grant money dedicated to upgrading equipment at the campus processing facility, the second piece is a project still being carved out.

“Maybe even more exciting is that we’ve ordered two mobile units, which are trailers that are self-contained processing plants for going out into the state,” he adds.

The unique concept is one he’s dubbed “a hot dog factory on wheels.” And the mobile processing unit could fill many meat processors’ biggest need: workforce development.

The reality is that we want to put skilled labor into these existing businesses,” says Wiegand. “If you go back to the mission of our institution, we’ve got Extension and research and teaching, and we’re trying to combine the elements of that.”

Taking the Classroom on the Road

And tapped to bring the idea to life is Ty Peckman, the newly hired director for the program, who’s just a few weeks on the job. He says the biggest challenges are combining skillsets and knowledge needed in the meat sciences industry, and crafting key lessons and modules that carve out the skill sets needed to keep small meat processing plants employed.

“We’ve taught several courses that cover a lot of the aspects from food safety,” says Peckman. From the basics to further processed meats, and the principles of meat science, it’s really then how do we take this from a college course level, and how do we distill it to what’s essential for folks who may not come in with that background knowledge.”

As Peckman works with Wiegand and others to craft a program that works, he says the workforce development program will be practical and adaptable and will evolve as the program grows. And the driving factor is the way the program will ensure context remains king.

“It’s understanding just enough of the science to why it is important that whenever we talk about humane animal handling and animal care, whenever we receive those animals, what’s the importance of doing that, not only from the animal’s well-being sake, but from the betterment of a product down the line standpoint. So, we want to tie in just enough of the technical with kind of the background education to hopefully submit some of the why in things,” says Peckman.

Influx of Grants

Grants, like the one received for Workforce Development, are just one example of what’s happening at the University of Missouri, according to Christopher Daubert, vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) at the University of Missouri. He says grants are pouring into CAFNR, thanks to the committed work of the entire faculty.

“The college was up 45% in shared credit awards within the college during that pandemic cycle than they were the year prior,” he says. “So, 45% is a huge increase in awards coming into the college.”

The dean says this specific grant is an example of how the land-grant mission continues to thrive.

“It’s about taking the research – the work that we do in our classrooms and in our laboratories – and taking that knowledge and taking it out to the state. That is truly the land-grant mission,” he adds.

Coming to a Town Near You

As the custom mobile meat processing units are set to be complete by the spring of 2022. Wiegand says it’ll expand beyond much more than just animal science, even bringing in lessons from the University Food Science, Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business.

“For us, putting those on the road is going to be the first major win,” he adds. “And we’re actually communicating with some of our community colleges and some of their workforce programs, so that we can have a bigger network in the state and take these trailers and land on their place and deliver the content.”

As the group taps into a new tradition, the mission remains the same.

“We need to have trained personnel in these small businesses, and they need to have staying power,” says Wiegand.

And as this program shows, Mizzou Animal Science is continues it’s quest to be a cut above the rest.

Is the Food Supply Chain Actually Breaking?

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:17:59 GMT

Tyson Foods bought a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Sunday. The overriding message by Tyson Foods board chairman John Tyson: “the food supply chain is breaking.”

The ad sparked a nationwide question: Is the food supply chain actually breaking?

“I have a little different view,” says Jayson Lusk, a Purdue University agricultural economist. “I think by and large, throughout this crisis, the food supply chain has responded remarkably well. Yes, we had a short period for some grocery store shelves were empty, but by and large, food was available. It might have been a different variety or different brand than you’re accustomed to buy. But the foods system responded remarkably well to a completely unexpected and unprecedented event. We certainly have some very serious challenges coming up in the meat sector, but that doesn’t mean the entire system is broken.”

Lusk says while the chain may not be broken, there is a severe strain on it, especially when it comes to moving animals through processing plants.

“Wholesale meat prices are increasing for beef,” Lusk says. “Choice box beef prices are as high as we’ve seen in a couple of decades. At least for pork, we’ve seen dramatic increases, but we’re actually still below where we were last year. Pork prices are a reflection of scarcity. So, I think there’s cause for some optimism, but I think you have to be realistic and say the system is under some very severe strain at the moment.”

Lusk says as processing protein becomes under even more stress, he thinks the next week or two will be “touch and go” when it comes to the food supply chain.

As pork and beef packing plants either close or slow, President Donald Trump took action this week to keep packing plants open. However, some economists say that action may be only a piece of the overall solution needed right now.

“It may be part of the fix in the sense that we need to get resources directed to packing plants and this critical infrastructure to maintain continuity within this this supply chain,” says Lee Schulz, economist at Iowa State University.

Schulz says any action that moves the industry in the right direction could address the immediate need to process pork and beef. However, he says order a packing plant to stay open is one thing, and ordering the packing plant to operate is a separate issue.

“We can’t necessarily make those workers work, but if they are available to do work,” he adds. “I think the more attention and the more resources that we can get to help resolve the situation in the form of safety measures, in the form of testing, will allow us to potentially move to getting these packing plants either back on line or getting up to capacity level that allows us to move or hogs through this.”

Packing Plant Bottleneck

Both economists say the packing plant closures are a serious strain on the supply chain and could reveal just how much of a bottleneck there is in the processing sector.

“In good times, these large packing plants serve us well,” Lusk says. “They efficiently process animals, provide affordable meat to food consumers, but when you have 60% of all hogs going through the top 15 plants or 60% of all cattle go into the top 10 plants, that gets to be a real choke point when you start getting a one, two, three or four, these shut down. And that’s what we’re sort of seeing now.”

With some meatpacking plants temporarily shutting down due to #COVID19, how will it affect our food supply?@JaysonLusk, department head of @PurdueAgEcon, and Candace Croney, director of @pucvm's Center for Animal Welfare Science, discuss the impacts. https://t.co/TvH38uRuP9 pic.twitter.com/cZcJId9LZs
— Purdue Agriculture (@PurdueAg) April 28, 2020

That is the critical bottleneck that right now, Schulz says. “We have a monumental challenge of getting hogs off the farm and into the packing plants at the moment.”

Schulz says the packing plant portion of the food chain isn’t the only bottleneck occurring. He says there are other ramification up and down the supply chain, which were sparked by COVID-19. However, if packing plants don’t ramp back up production quickly, pork could be in short supply at stores soon.

“We are working potentially towards a shortage,” Schulz says. “I’d like to call it more of an availability issue.”

He says the issue isn’t a shortage, because there is pork. In fact, he still expects pork production to be up overall in 2020.

The challenge is getting that livestock into a consumable product.

“I think it’s important we have pork at the grocery store, but it just might not be currently in the form or products that consumers are used to buying,” Schulz says. “So it may be in larger packages. There may be certain cuts that aren’t available. Prices have increased, but there isn’t a shortage. Now the longer this lasts, we could move into some of that territory where we do see potential shortages in some particular places.”

Lusk thinks it’s not just product that looks differently in stores post COVID-19. He thinks the shopping experience may also change.

“We may have grocery stores that look a little different five or 10 years from now and more focused on meat and fresh fruits and vegetables,” he says. “We may have more of our packaged products coming direct to our homes. These things tend to be pretty gradual, but this event shook hings up in a hurry and we may get those changes faster than we anticipated.

Lusk says with all the strain and stress, it’s also opened up consumers eyes to just how much the food system is reliant upon a solid supply chain.

“It’s opened our eyes to how much we depend on farmers and on a well-functioning food supply chain,” Lusk says. “That includes on those processors in the middle, in how much we count on the fact that we’re well-fed. We’ve just taken food security for granted. And hopefully people will come away from this with a greater appreciation of just how intricate and how much work goes into supplying a bountiful and secure supply of food. “

What We Know About USDA’s COVID-19 Aid Package

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 18:53:35 GMT

President Donald Trump several times over the past week has indicated some $16 billion of COVID-19 farmer aid would be announced soon. Additionally, Pro Farmer’s Jim Wiesemeyer says there is funding available through the Section 32 program and other revenue sources, including language in previous COVID-19 aid legislation that allows the USDA secretary to tap the U.S. Treasury, if it is deemed there could be a food shortage.

What’s the timing? According to Wiesemeyer, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue will likely send a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sometime the week of April 13, with some sources pinpointing a Wednesday dateline of April 15. “It is unclear how long it will take OMB and others to sign off on the coming USDA proposal, but a fast turnaround is possible,” he says. “That is why an official announcement of the package could be late the week of April 13 at the earliest, or the week of April 20.”

How big will the package be? The size of the coming package may be less than the $23.5 billion that Congress approved and President Trump signed into law, relative to Phase 3 of the COVID-19 rescue package, Wiesemeyer says.

“The coming plan looks to consist of $9.5 billion of targeted funds but not exclusively for livestock, dairy and specialty crops,” he adds. “The remainder of around $6 billion would come from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), even though Congress authorized an increase of $14 billion in CCC borrowing authority, and this would likely mostly be targeted to row-crop producers.”

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) pushed for an additional $20 billion in CCC borrowing authority via the debate on the Phase 3 relief legislation, but Democratic lawmakers reduced that increase to $14 billion, Wiesemeyer notes. Still, there are other avenues of funding USDA can tap, including Section 32 and the U.S. Treasury, among perhaps other revenue sources, contacts advise.

Perdue has indicated that the additional CCC funding will not be available until at least July, due to legislative language regarding a June 2020 CCC audit.

“Agricultural bankers, farmers and others say that even though the $14 billion will not be available until July at the earliest, Perdue should nonetheless announce all the eventual funding from the CCC for row crops when he makes the initial COVID-19 announcement, Wiesemeyer says. “But that may not be the case, at least based on information at this time.”

Details on how the funding will be allocated are unknown at this time.

BREAKING: Temporary Hours of Service Exemption for Livestock Haulers

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 17:45:55 GMT

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has exempted livestock haulers from compliance with federal Hours of Service rules that limit drive time until at least April 12 due to the COVID-19 emergency relief effort.

Drivers wishing to haul under this exemption are suggested to print out and keep in their cab a copy of the Expanded Emergency Declaration , according to the Livestock Market Association (LMA).

The Expanded Emergency Declaration provides relief to those drivers hauling “food” and “immediate precursor raw materials… that are required and to be used for the manufacture of … food.”

LMA received official interpretation from the Office of the Secretary of Transportation that all livestock movement fits these exemption definitions. However, when the driver returns to their “normal reporting location,” the driver must receive a minimum of 10 hours off duty to rest.

“LMA applauds the FMCSA’s expansion of the Emergency Declaration to include livestock haulers. This flexibility will allow our drivers the necessary time to get livestock to and from farms, livestock auction markets and packing plants to facilitate the re-stocking of America’s meat cases,” says Jara Settles, LMA General Counsel. “LMA continues to advocate for livestock auction markets and the entire supply chain as critical infrastructure during these challenging times.”

FMCSA’s expanded declaration provides relief for commercial motor vehicle operations providing direct assistance supporting emergency efforts intended to meet immediate needs for:

• Medical supplies and equipment related to the testing, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19
• Supplies and equipment necessary for community safety, sanitation and prevention of community transmission of COVID-19 such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectants
• Food, paper products and other groceries for emergency restocking of distribution centers or stores
• Immediate precursor raw materials, such as paper, plastic or alcohol, that are required and to be used for the manufacture of essential items
• Fuel
• Equipment, supplies and persons necessary to establish and manage temporary housing, quarantine
• Persons designated by federal, state or local authorities for medical, isolation or quarantine purposes
• Persons necessary to provide other medical or emergency services

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Senators Ask FTC to Open Antitrust Investigation into Packers

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 17:10:58 GMT

Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) sent a bipartisan letter the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to open an antitrust investigation into the meatpacking industry. The industry is currently dominated by just a handful of large, multinational firms that have concentrated meat processing into fewer and fewer facilities, leaving America’s food supply chain vulnerable to disruptions, according to a release from the Senators.

The Senators note that the closing of three pork plants because of COVID-19 has resulted “in the shutdown of a staggering 15 percent of America’s pork production” at a time when stable supply chains have become more critical than ever.

“As a result, farmers cannot process their livestock—which are costly to maintain—and consumers risk seeing shortages at grocery stores, exacerbating the food insecurity that all too many Americans are currently experiencing,” they wrote in the letter. “These harms might have been mitigated if the meatpacking industry was less concentrated. The current COVID-19 crisis has exposed the vulnerabilities of American supply chains and the importance of ensuring that, when disaster strikes, America’s food supplies are not in the hands of a few, mostly foreign-based firms.”

It continues, “The FTC has the power to shed light on these growing competition and security problems in our food supply. The Commission should ask probing questions about major meatpacking firms’ conduct, pricing, and contracting, as well as how their commitments to overseas interests impact the U.S. market and national security. Moreover, because a competitive food industry is so critical to the public interest, you should make the findings of any investigation public.”

Full text of the letter is can be found here or below.

April 29, 2020

Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20580

Dear Chairman Simons, Commissioner Phillips, Commissioner Chopra, Commissioner Slaughter, and Commissioner Wilson:

One of the most effective tools in the FTC’s arsenal is its power to investigate and analyze the practices of specific industries under section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act. 15 U.S.C. § 46(b). We write to urge you to exercise that authority to investigate the growing concentration in the meatpacking and processing industry, and any anticompetitive behavior resulting from this concentration.

The domination of a select few companies in the American meatpacking industry is cause for serious concern. Four companies process 85 percent of all the beef in the United States: Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS S.A., and Smithfield Foods. [1] Just three of these multinational firms—Tyson Foods from the United States, JBS from Brazil, and Smithfield from the People’s Republic of China—control 63 percent of America’s pork processing.[2]

This market consolidation has led to the increased concentration of meat production in just a handful of plants. For instance, over the last several decades, the number of slaughterhouses processing more than one million hogs annually has more than doubled: among those slaughterhouses processing more than 50,000 hogs every year, 90% are these “mega-slaughterhouses.” [3] Cattle slaughterhouses have also seen increased concentration, with the average number of cattle slaughtered per plant doubling between 1976 and 2006. [4]

This physical plant concentration, in turn, has undermined the stability of America’s meat supply and become an issue of national security. Following a spate of COVID-19 infections among plant workers, in recent days these oligopolistic companies have closed three pork plants indefinitely, resulting in the shutdown of a staggering 15 percent of America’s pork production. [5] As a result, farmers cannot process their livestock—which are costly to maintain—and consumers risk seeing shortages at grocery stores, exacerbating the food insecurity that all too many Americans are currently experiencing. These harms might have been mitigated if the meatpacking industry was less concentrated. The current COVID-19 crisis has exposed the vulnerabilities of American supply chains and the importance of ensuring that, when disaster strikes, America’s food supplies are not in the hands of a few, mostly foreign-based firms.

Yet even before the immediate COVID-19 crisis, the effects of concentration in meatpacking have broadly proven disastrous for America’s farmers, ranchers, and consumers. Between 1980 and 2009, the price a rancher was able to obtain per pound of beef declined from $1.97 to 93 cents (adjusted for inflation). [6] Likewise, between 1999 and 2008, real consumer prices for ground beef increased by 24 percent (adjusted for inflation), from a monthly average price of $1.89 a pound in 1999 to $2.34 a pound in 2008. [7] And, of course, these numbers assume that all sales took place in good faith, an assumption which may not be warranted: mega-meatpacker JBS was fined in 2018 for underpaying family farmers and ranchers by claiming cattle weighed less than they did. [8] Similar dynamics have played out in the hog industry: between 1992 and 2007, hog prices fell by 30% as producers became increasingly concentrated. [9]

As America begins to look ahead to a post-pandemic future, the FTC has the power to shed light on these growing competition and security problems in our food supply. The Commission should ask probing questions about major meatpacking firms’ conduct, pricing, and contracting, as well as how their commitments to overseas interests impact the U.S. market and national security. Moreover, because a competitive food industry is so critical to the public interest, you should make the findings of any investigation public. 15 U.S.C. § 46(f).

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your action on this urgent issue.

Sincerely,

Josh Hawley
U.S. Senator

Tammy Baldwin
U.S. Senator

[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/how-four-companies-control-the-supply-and-price-of-beef--pork-and-chicken-in-the-u-s-eat-prices-224406080.html .
[2] Philip H. Howard, “Corporate Concentration in Global Meat Processing: The Role of Feed and Finance Subsidies,” in Global Meat: Social and Environmental Consequences of the Expanding Meat Industry (2019), at 31.
[3] https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/atr/legacy/2011/09/09/AGW-15639-a.pdf .
[4] Id.
[5] https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/26/business/meat-processing-plants-coronavirus/index.html .
[6] https://grist.org/food/2011-04-14-ranchers-struggle-against-giant-meatpackers-economic-troubles/full .
[7] https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/beefconcentration.pdf .
[8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/this-foreign-meat-company-got-us-tax-money-now-it-wants-to-conquer-america/2019/11/04/854836ae-eae5-11e9-9306-47cb0324fd44_story.html .
[9] https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/45936/12767_err52.pdf?v=41056 .

Tyson Foods Says 96% of Workers Vaccinated

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 17:02:14 GMT

Tyson Foods announced on Tuesday that 96% of its workforce has been vaccinated for COVID-19.

President and CEO Donnie King released a note to Tyson employees sharing the news that nearly 60,000 employees have been vaccinated since the company announced Aug. 3 it would require all its 120,000 American workers to be vaccinated for COVID by Nov. 1.

“Throughout the pandemic, your health and safety has been our top priority. We have used every tool at our disposal to help keep you safe,” King wrote to employees. “And getting vaccinated is the single most effective tool to protect you, your families, and our communities against the COVID-19 virus.”

United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) International president Marc Perrone said in a statement, “As the largest union for Tyson workers across the country, UCFW is determined to keep all our members safe from this deadly pandemic, and ensure they are rewarded for their sacrifices. Working together, the UFCW and Tyson set a new standard with this vaccine mandate and have proved what’s possible when we listen to workers and negotiate the implementation of vaccination mandates fairly and responsibly.”

Tyson provided its U.S. workers with free, on-site access to the COVID-19 vaccinations. The company also gave $200 as a thank you to fully vaccinated frontline workers and more than $6 million in sweepstakes to incentivize vaccinations. It also conducted an extensive outreach campaign to educate and inform team members about the COVID-19 vaccinations.

Tyson also said it would provide administrative leave for up to two weeks for employees who are fully vaccinated and test positive for COVID-19 over the next six months, and it compensated workers for time spent in educational sessions about the benefits and risks of the COVID vaccines.

“I have also received many notes from team members who have helped convince others in their family, and in their community, to get vaccinated,” King said in the note to employees. “Wherever you live, if you are one of these people, know that you have made your community safer.”

He said the vaccination mandate has made a difference as the company has seen a significant decline in the number of active COVID cases.

To those employees who remain unvaccinated and chose to leave the company, King said, “this is your choice, and we respect that choice. If you change your mind and want to rejoin Tyson – let us know. Our doors are open.”