JBS’ Worthington plant, when fully operational, produces pork for retail sale under the Swift brand. (JBSsa.com)

JBS reopens Minnesota pork plant to cull pigs

Chicago | Reuters — Meat producer JBS said Wednesday it was reopening a Minnesota pork plant shuttered by the pandemic to euthanize up to 13,000 pigs a day for farmers, not to produce meat for consumers. U.S. farmers have been forced to cull livestock as they run short of space to house animals after some

Cemetery employees fill in the grave of JBS USA meat packing plant employee Saul Sanchez on April 15, 2020 at Greeley, Colorado, following his death from COVID-19. (Photo: Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

Trump orders U.S. meat processing plants to stay open

Advocates call for protective equipment for plant workers

Washington/Chicago | Reuters — President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants to stay open to protect the food supply in the United States, despite concerns about coronavirus outbreaks, drawing a backlash from unions that said at-risk workers required more protection. With concerns about food shortages and supply chain disruptions, Trump issued an executive order


(Deyana Robova photo/iStock/Getty Images)

Smithfield to close Illinois pork facility

Workers test positive for COVID-19

Reuters — World’s largest pork processor Smithfield Foods said Friday it will suspend operations at its Monmouth, Illinois pork processing facility next week after some employees tested positive for COVID-19, adding to already strained U.S. meat supplies. The news of some of the company’s 1,700 employees at the plant testing positive comes a day after



People enter Smithfield Foods through a screening tent on April 16, in Sioux Falls, S.D. The plant is currently closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, sending shock waves through the hog sector.

Weanling barns wrestle with market free fall

U.S. market disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic has sent the swine weanling market diving

One of Manitoba’s top livestock exports is in a tight spot after market implications of COVID-19 sent the swine market for weanlings into a tailspin. Hams Marketing put average ISO wean price at US$7.38 as of April 17, a dramatic drop from the end of January, when the company estimated average ISO wean price at



(JBSS.infoinvest.com.br)

JBS shuts Minnesota pork plant due to coronavirus

Chicago | Reuters — JBS USA said on Monday it would indefinitely shut a Minnesota hog slaughterhouse that produces about five per cent of the country’s pork, in the latest disruption to the U.S. food supply chain from the coronavirus pandemic. The closure limits the amount of meat the United States can produce for consumers

China replenishes world’s biggest hog herd

Six planes carrying more than 4,000 high-quality French breeding pigs have arrived in China so far this year, the first of an expected dozens of planeloads as the world’s top pork producer rebuilds its decimated hog herd. China is ramping up imports as it rushes to restock after an outbreak of African swine fever swept


(Marina Karkalicheva/iStock/Getty Images)

Trump administration aims to buy milk, meat to help farmers, Perdue says

Homeland Security to ease visa rules for ag workers

Reuters — The U.S. government plans to buy milk and meat from farmers as part of an initial US$15.5 billion effort to help them weather the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday. The decision comes amid rising pressure from the U.S. farm lobby for government purchases as growers and

CME June 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rise as traders hope slaughterhouses reopen soon

Hogs more sensitive to packer disruptions

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures rose Tuesday in a turnaround from recent losses, supported by a temporary easing of concerns over meat plants’ shutting due to cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among workers, analysts said. Livestock markets have been fixated on shutdowns of meat plants because processing disruptions cause a backup in supplies