Comment: Making pork chops flow uphill

Comment: Making pork chops flow uphill

Duelling reports from industry economists full of bafflegab

For more than 40 years my father farmed within a mile of where the Kaskaskia River met the Mississippi deep in southern Illinois. That meant he had two, lifetime partners: the river and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, landlords of the levees that guarded our wedge of the Great American Bottoms. Dad never argued

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U.S. packer profit margins jumped 300 per cent during pandemic, economists say

Increased costs don't explain higher profits, White House advisors say

Washington | Reuters — Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins since the pandemic started, White House economics advisers said. Financial statements of the meat-processing companies — which control 55 to


Security wear face masks at the Greeley, Colorado, JBS USA meat packing plant where two staff members had died of COVID-19, April 8, 2020.   Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo

Coronavirus infections at U.S. meat plants far higher than previous estimates, House subcommittee hears

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 percent


The final idea, invest in new, independent local packers, is rock-solid but it also depends on heavy involvement by government for fast, effective implementation, a two-step that Congress rarely executes well.

Comment: Ag groups make a united, hollow call on meatpackers to play nice

Too many cattle producer divisions are easy for packers to exploit

On May 17, six farm groups joined voices to call on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Congress, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to ensure a “more financially sustainable situation for cattle feeders and cow-calf producers.” That’s make-nice farm talk for “Meatpackers are skinning cattlemen so badly now that we six, not-usually-friendly groups ask


Workers disinfect a conveyor belt, part of the measures installed to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Seaboard Foods pork-processing plant in Guymon, Oklahoma, May 17, 2020.

U.S. court slams brakes on Trump-era hog slaughter line-speed rule

Union cheers ruling, saying faster line speeds harm processing plant workers

Reuters – The largest U.S. meat-packing union is celebrating a recent victory in Federal Court that it said invalidated a Trump-era rule allowing hog slaughter plants to run without line-speed limits. A lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and three of its local chapters

Smaller packing operations struggle to compete in part because of the heavy regulatory burden, MPs heard recently.

CCA calls for optimizing meat-packing system

Processing study ending soon, producer group calls for comprehensive action

It’s time to create an environment to support an “optimal Canadian packing system,” the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association has told MPs. The group was speaking to the federal committee on agriculture which will soon be wrapping up its study into Canada’s meat-processing capacity during a February 23 meeting. Beginning in Nov. 2020, MPs have heard from

Some U.S. meat packers announce vaccine plans

Some U.S. meat packers announce vaccine plans

Many workers are still waiting for their first jabs

COVID-19 vaccines are making their way into the arms of U.S. meat and agriculture workers, but companies and union officials say progress needs to be faster after coronavirus outbreaks idled slaughterhouses and sickened thousands of workers. Vaccinating food workers could help prevent further production disruptions that sent meat prices soaring in spring 2020 and forced retailers like Kroger


Comment: The best way to start is to start

Comment: The best way to start is to start

Undoing decades of harm will take time and concerted effort

Forty years ago, two editors at Successful Farming magazine, Gene Johnston and Dean Houghton, won most major ag journalism awards with a story titled “Who will kill the hogs?” The piece (not available online) tracked a new, potent shift just beginning to hit: Local meat packers were being squeezed for hogs and markets by other,

Workers bone and cut beef at a 
meat-packing plant in Toronto.

The key lesson of COVID outbreaks at Manitoba meat processors? Be proactive

One report suggests meat processors were warned to prepare and failed to act

When it comes to COVID-19 at meat-processing facilities one thing has become clear — you can’t wait until you’ve got a problem to act. “With this virus you have to take precautions in advance,” said Jeff Traeger, president of UFCW local 832, which represents workers at Manitoba’s Maple Leaf, HyLife and Exceldor Co-operative meat-processing facilities.