The closing of meat packing plants because of the COVID-19 pandemic is hammering the pork industry and meat farmers who are finding fewer and fewer places to process their products for market consumption.
"We’re in unprecedented times," Jenny Jackson, director of communications for the Illinois Pork Producers Association, told the Record. "COVID-19 has significantly impacted nearly every aspect of our lives and industry around the world. Agriculture, and specifically pork production, is no exception. Pig farmers have recently weathered two years of trade-related market disruptions and now several weeks of COVID-related packing plant closures and slowdowns. Generations of farmers are facing the fact that they may not be in business much longer."
Jackson said pig farmers are losing an average of $70 per pig today.
"With lower income and loads of pigs being rejected due to closed packing plants, our farmers are hurting much like our overall economy right now,” she said.
Jackson noted that although pig farmers are generally optimistic people, it is tough to wade through the crisis which COVID-19 created.
"The virus has wreaked havoc on the supply chain and consumers are now seeing disruptions," she said. "Some economists project meat cases will start showing smaller supplies of pork, given slaughter reductions of 20%-25% for the previous two weeks. These changes in supply are not expected to be widespread or last for long periods of time, but consumers will likely see fewer fresh pork items or a more limited selection than they are used to on some trips to the store."
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order that would allow meat-processing plants to remain open during the coronavirus crisis, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
According to a CBS 2 Chicago report, a pork packing facility in in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, closed its operation after nearly 800 employees tested positive for the virus. Additional company plants in Cudahy, Wisconsin, and Martin City, Missouri, closed.
Working conditions at meat packing plants can be ripe for infection by the virus. Workers stand bunched together in production lines and later crowd into locker rooms to change their clothes before and after shifts.
A Chicago Tribune report said the virus has infected hundreds of workers at plants in Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and elsewhere. Plants that so far have remained open are being hurt by loss of employees who are sick or staying home because of fears of catching the virus.
Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Association, said the safety of plant workers comes first before meat production.
“They are our first line of keeping the supply chain going and we appreciate their efforts,” she said. “We just need to keep that workforce healthy.”
The CBS report estimated that approximately 5,000 food processing workers in the U.S. could have been exposed to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The closures of meat packing plants is costing farmers dearly who even in normal times exist on uncertain profit-loss margins.
“Our farmers are hemorrhaging on farms and trying to continue to survive,” Tirey told CBS.
Unlike restaurants during a hiatus, farmers still have to pay for labor, animal care and facilities, the report noted.
The end result is a glut of animals fattened up ready to be harvested for market but with no place to go.
Tirey predicted the longer the shutdowns continue, the more drastic measures will have to be taken, like euthanizing hogs that could have fed people.
“Our farmers have about two more weeks,” she said. “We’re going to have to depopulate farms if our farmers aren’t able to send those hogs to market.”
More closures of meatpacking plants means further wasted loss of meat animals, loss of revenue and a loss of farms, Tirey added.
“When COVID-19 hopefully clears and passes, I’m not sure how many of my farmers are still going to be around,” she said. “I’m afraid we’re not going to have some of these farmers in business.”
Ultimately this could result in fewer meat products on store shelves for consumers and higher meat prices.
According to the Illinois Farm Bureau approximately 97% of farms in Illinois are family owned.
A Farm Bureau spokesman was not available for comment as its office is on minimal staff during stay-at-home orders.
However, a Farm Bureau communique sent earlier to CBS said, “If you start seeing less meat on the racks at your local grocery stores, it’s not a supply issue, there’s plenty of hogs and animals. There’s just fewer places to send them to.”
The Illinois Pork Association advised that any differences in pork supplies consumers see at retail is due to availability issues resulting from reduced processing capacity.
Illinois ranked fourth in the country in hog production with over 2 million pounds of pork produced.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no evidence the virus that causes COVID-19 is transmitted through food or food packaging.