Processor

USDA Seeks to Limit Use of ‘Product of USA’ Label By Packers

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 01:26:36 GMT

The Agriculture Department on Monday issued a proposed new regulation restricting “Product of the USA” labels on meat, poultry and eggs to animals born and raised in the U.S. The proposal would effectively close a labeling loophole that allows products to use such a label for beef and pork that is simply repackaged in the U.S.

President Joe Biden called for a reassessment of the labeling regulations as part of a 2021 executive order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, and a commitment made in the Administration’s Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain.

The White House says the increased clarity and transparency provided by this proposed change will prevent consumer confusion and help ensure that consumers understand where their food comes from.

“American consumers expect that when they buy a meat product at the grocery store, the claims they see on the label mean what they say,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These proposed changes are intended to provide consumers with accurate information to make informed purchasing decisions. Our action today affirms USDA’s commitment to ensuring accurate and truthful product labeling.”

The present labeling standard has been in effect since congress voted in December 2015 to repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling laws for beef and pork. That action was forced by Canada and Mexico when the two countries challenged the COOL laws as a trade restriction before the World Trade Organization.

As part of its review, USDA commissioned a nationwide consumer survey . The survey revealed that the current “Product of USA” labeling claim is misleading to a majority of consumers surveyed, with a significant portion believing the claim means that the product was made from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.

Regarding the new proposal, Vilsack does not think it would run afoul of trade rules because the labels are voluntary, nor will it impose undue burdens on meatpackers.

“They don’t have to put the label on there,” Vilsack told Bloomberg. “But if they choose to put it on there, then they better be able establish that the animals were born, raised, slaughtered, processed in the US.”

About 12% of all meat, poultry and egg products sold in the US currently claim US origin on their labels, the agriculture department estimates.

U.S. Cattlemen’s Association president Justin Tupper said in a statement his group is “thrilled that the proposed rule finally closes this loophole by accurately defining what these voluntary origin claims mean. If it says, ‘Made in the USA,’ then it should be from cattle that have only known USA soil.”

However, the North American Meat Institute said the new regulations for meat products are again likely to result in trade retaliation from Canada and Mexico costing American consumers and businesses billions of dollars.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association NCBA Executive Director of Government Affairs Kent Bacus released the following statement:

“There is no question that the current “Product of USA” label for beef is flawed, and it undercuts the ability of U.S. cattle producers to differentiate U.S. beef in the marketplace. For the past few years, NCBA’s grassroots-driven efforts have focused on addressing problems with the existing label, and we will continue working to find a voluntary, trade-compliant solution that promotes product differentiation and delivers profitable solutions and for U.S. cattle producers. Simply adding born, raised, and harvested requirements to an already broken label will fail to deliver additional value to cattle producers and it will undercut true voluntary, market-driven labels that benefit cattle producers. We cannot afford to replace one flawed government label with another flawed government label.”

A statement from R-CALF USA said the organization supports the proposed reforms to the “Product of USA” label, but “it stands firm that only Congress can create labeling reforms that will restore the entire truth to beef consumers and create the market reforms deserved for domestic cattle producers.”

Border Seminars in Mexico Help Keep U.S. Meat Moving South

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:12:08 GMT

Mexico is the largest volume destination for U.S. red meat exports, and it is critically important to keep product moving without delays at the border.

To help ensure that this process operates as smoothly as possible, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) participates in educational seminars designed to educate inspectors, customs agents, brokers and others involved in the importation of U.S. meat into Mexico.

USMEF technical services manager Cheyenne McEndaffer discusses the objectives behind a recent seminar hosted by COMECARNE (the Mexican Meat Council), which included an opening presentation by Dr. Alejandra Valdez, a veterinarian who leads USMEF-Mexico’s technical services department. The seminar also included presentations by the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC), SENASICA (Mexico’s food inspection agency) and Sigma Alimentos, a major Mexican food processor and distributor. McEndaffer explains the importance of achieving consistent enforcement of Mexico’s import regulations, which can be especially difficult due to high turnover among inspectors and customs agents.

McEndaffer also notes that the feedback gathered at these seminars is helpful to USMEF member companies that export to Mexico, so exporter training sessions are being planned in which this information will be shared and discussed.

Meet 87-Year-Old Joan Kerns, A True Trailblazer Who Helped Carve Out A Niche For Her Family Nearly 60 Years Ago

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 22:06:28 GMT

Cut by cut. Slice by slice. Every detail counts for Edgewood Locker , a northeast Iowa-based business that’s been spliced together for nearly 60 years in 1966.

With no master plan, it started when Tom, a farmer, and Joan, a nurse at the time, were forced to find a new place to live.

(Farm Journal)

“We were on his dad’s farm for five years when his dad announced he was going to sell the farm. He wanted us to buy it, but we could not afford to buy a huge farm back then,” Joan explains.

So, they found a farm to rent three miles outside of Edgewood, until an accidental fire on that farm sparked another change.

“Talk about an act of fate. We knew the lady who owned that farm was going to make us move, because she believed those stories that we started the fire,” Joan remembers. “Tom came home one day and said, ‘The locker in town is for sale.’ So, we bought it.”

It was that decision that changed the course for the Kerns family. Neither Joan nor Tom knew anything about running a meat locker, but they had the tenacity to make it work.

“Tom wanted to do the actual meat cutting and that sort of thing, and I was going to do all the books and the book work,” says Joan.

The business started out with minimal equipment: only a saw and a grinder at the locker. That didn’t stop the Kerns from seeing phenomenal growth.

“And every year we were in business, we grew. Every year we got bigger. And so, finally, we outgrew our plant,” she says.

The growth wasn’t always easy, and it didn’t come without financial hardships. Joan says the couple borrowed money to expand and grow six different times.

“But I remember, maybe the second or third time Tom said, ‘I’m going to go up to the bank tomorrow and borrow some money for the next addition,’ and I went up to do our daily banking that day. And the girl said, ‘Oh, we can give you the money.’ So, I borrowed the money, got back home and I told him. I said, ‘Well, I got the money borrowed for our new addition.’ Tom said, ‘They let a woman do that?’ That’s the way it was back then,” says Joan.

A Force of Nature

Joan’s son Terry will be the first to tell you how much his mom was a driving force behind the scenes, if she didn’t always get the credit she deserved.

“She’s kind of a force of nature, there’s no doubt about it, and probably even more so than anybody realizes,” says Terry, who’s one of two second-generation owners of Edgewood Locker.

What makes Joan’s role so essential to their growth is the fact Joan’s husband, Tom, was dyslexic. So behind the scenes, Joan handled the paperwork and books, all while raising four kids at home.

Bringing in the Second Generation Straight Out of High School

Joan is still a true trailblazer today, as the Kerns’ unconventional ways and business decisions also helped fuel the family operation.

“The boys had come into the locker business as they graduated from high school, which really let us dream bigger,” says Joan.

That was in the early 1980s. Tom and Joan didn’t just see their sons Terry and Jim as employees, they allowed the boys to buy into the business fresh out of high school.

(Farm Journal)

“It wasn’t popular with their peers that they allowed Jim and me to buy in at such a young age, you know. They gave us a huge opportunity,” remembers Terry.

“And I think that’s why we grew as we did, because they were partners. They were going to be in this, and it made a big difference,” Joan says.

The growth has been impressive over the past 60 years, including building a new facility in the late 1990s that has seen even more expansion since.

“We built this business because she paid attention to detail. And she wanted to make sure it was done right. She still keeps us on our toes,” says Terry.

At 87-years-old, Joan is sharp, and attention to detail may still be one of her greatest strengths.

“She is not afraid to tell us when she thinks we’ve done something wrong,” says Terry.

Bringing in the Third Generation

While Joan doesn’t overlook the small things, she’s also the first to celebrate how much the family business has grown. It now includes four grandkids who have become part-owners.

“Oh my gosh, I did not see that coming. And they each bring their own experience, knowledge, their forte to the business,” says Joan.

“All of us in the third generation, all I feel have a very unique skill set, which allows all of us to bring something different to the table,” says Baili Maurer, one of Joan’s grandchildren who bought in as a third-generation owner.

“None of us really overlap much. We all have our own thing that we do, and it just works,” adds Katie, who’s also one of four grandchildren who are partners.

(Farm Journal)

Katie and Bailli, along with Luke Kerns and Payson Kerns, are the third-generation owners of Edgewood Locker.

“They’ve got experience, they’ve got education in meat science in business. So, as fun as it was to grow with Mom and Dad adding Jim and me, this next generation really has the potential to do amazing things,” says Terry.

Third-Generation Growth

“We’re just doing what we can to take the business to a new level,” says Baili.

“We really expanded into wholesale stores and retail stores carrying our products. And we just keep going with what the second generation and first generation have been doing, as well,” adds Katie.

The growth is evident everywhere you turn. Construction in their retail and lobby area is a clear sign of even more progress.

“We had a major expansion of 19,000-square-feet that we’ve been in now a little over a year and a half, and I think it’s running well,” says Terry. “We remodeled our old processing facility and updated that, and it looks like brand new.”

The decision to expand and remodel their retail and lobby area was propelled by the busiest season for Edgewood Locker: deer season.

“I think last year, we did 3,700 whole-carcass deer, and then over 3,500 batches of boned-out deer that came in, so well over 7,000 different batches to jerky,” Terry says.

With that type of volume, Edgewood Locker has also been able to invest in bigger and better equipment.

“I’d like to say we had this great master plan, but we never had a real plan to say, ‘Well, next year, we’re going to get into wholesaling, or next year, we’re going to do this.’ We just kind of took it as it came. Something presented itself, we ran with it, and ran hard with a lot of it,” says Terry.

A Legacy Worth Sharing

With 130 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees, Edgewood Locker also offers other custom processing, and has products for sale, in more than 100 retail stores across Iowa. And it’s that side of the business the third generation has already helped expand.

“I hope we can just continue the legacy,” says Baili.

“I’m hopeful that we can just keep doing like we’re doing, keep growing where we can and keep expanding things and have it all set up for the fourth generation if they would like to join in someday,” Katie says.

Walls of awards are a product of what Joan and Tom started in 1966, but that isn’t what Joan is most proud of today. The greatest gift just may be the fourth generation and the chance to carry on a business that started on hopes and dreams.

Tyson CEO Confesses Company Culture Was Lazy After Pandemic

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 14:24:18 GMT

“We got fat and lazy,” Tyson Foods Inc.’s leader candidly shared about his company’s underperformance in an interview on Tuesday following the opening of Tyson’s new $300-million plant in Danville, Va., Bloomberg reported.

CEO Donnie King made comments about the company getting “really comfortable” and “inefficient.”

When prices for pork, beef and chicken surged due to demand and supply disruptions during the pandemic, profits boosted for some companies such as Tyson. When demand dropped, America’s biggest meat company was hit hard, the article said.

Tyson’s fiscal year ended in September, and the company’s adjusted net income plunged 85%, the lowest in more than a decade, with profit margins largely trailing those of publicly traded rivals, Bloomberg reported.

S&P Global Inc. dropped Tyson’s credit rating Tuesday to BBB — the second-lowest investment grade rating — and cited “inefficient production assets” among the factors that contributed to the company’s underperformance in recent years. Corrective measures and investments in more productive assets will help drive profit improvement, particularly in the chicken business, the agency said.

Although the company isn’t where it needs to be, King told Bloomberg they are well on their way to being there again.

King was named head of Tyson in June 2021. He first joined the company in 1982. After leaving in 2017, he rejoined Tyson in September 2020.

Tyson will continue expanding capacity to meet growing demand for branded products, such as its Ballpark sausages and Hillshire hams, King said in the article, which typically command higher margins than commodity meat cuts.

JBS Facing Headwinds in the U.S., NY Listing Plans Pushed Back

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 14:21:24 GMT

JBS SA, the Brazil-based meat behemoth, is braced for tough times as low cattle availability squeezes beef margins in the United States, its main market, and management works to return pork business margins to more stable levels in North America.

In a discussion with analysts of JBS’ third quarter results on Tuesday, managers also said they are trying improve the operating performance of processed foods division Seara in Brazil, which made heavy investments to boost capacity at a time the world faces a global chicken glut and competitors make inroads in certain product categories.

JBS’ plans to increase Seara’s overall pork and chicken products production by 10% this year and 10% are maintained, managers said.

On Monday, JBS reported an 86% drop in third-quarter net income compared to a year ago, sliding to around 573 million reais ($116.63 million).

The company cited struggling U.S. beef margins, a recovering pork division and global chicken oversupplies as weighing on results.

For the U.S. beef division, a shortage of cattle for slaughtering will remain a challenge in the fourth quarter and in 2024, Director Wesley Batista Filho said in the call.

On a brighter note, the company is expected to show strong cash generation in the fourth quarter following a drop grain prices and deferred livestock payments, CFO Guilherme Cavalcante said.

The company’s plan to list shares in New York has been held back by a request from American Depositary Receipt holders to vote on the proposal, CEO Gilberto Tomazon told analysts, repeating remarks from the previous day.

The dual listing of shares in New York and São Paulo potentially thwarts short-term opportunities to tap capital markets to fund business expansion initiatives, he said.

Tomazoni declined to give a timeline for the deal’s conclusion as it is still being scrutinized by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

(Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Steven Grattan)

Meat Processing Plants Grow with Local Consumer Demand

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 19:40:24 GMT

As more consumers seek locally sourced products to connect with the land, many farmers and ranchers are stepping up to meet demand.

The market for direct-to-consumer beef has grown substantially during the past decade, sustaining the need for processing facilities. COVID-19 fueled even more business for processors, and Oklahoma’s regulatory agency took notice.

“In 2019, we had roughly 20 inspected plants across the state, and now we’re up over 30,” said Scott Yates, director of the Food Safety division at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. “We had 15 inspectors in 2019, and we just hired the 30th a few weeks ago.”

Educating Ranchers and Buyers

The industry is experiencing significant growth, but starting as early as the 1970s, processing plants were in decline in Oklahoma communities as people retired from the trade. Children chose other career paths over the family business, and many facilities closed their doors for good, Yates said. Meat consumers began to connect with producers, but the custom processing business had its seasonal ebbs and flows.

However, the pandemic gave mom-and-pop facilities another chance. Joel Jackson, pilot plant manager at the Oklahoma State University Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center, said that by May 2020, custom processing orders were through the roof.

“In April and May of 2020, when the big plants started shutting down, you couldn’t walk into a grocery store and get what you wanted,” he said. “If you didn’t have a freezer full of meat, that made people nervous.”

Processors were quickly booked through the end of the year into 2021 and even 2022. By the end of 2020, cancelations began popping up, but Jackson said the overall panic of a tight meat supply changed consumers’ habits.

“People who had never had an animal processed before asked producers if they could buy one,” he said. “For first-timers, it led to a big learning curve and an opportunity for education by producers and processors.”

Jackson wrote an OSU Extension fact sheet that details the basics of animal processing, including why a 1,000-pound steer will not produce 1,000 pounds of meat, how to select cutting instructions and what cuts are available. The information is not only valuable to the buyer but also to those ranchers who might be new to custom processing.

“If you’re going to sell beef, you should be familiar with what to expect on a side, quarter or whole animal in terms of yields,” Jackson said. “You’re going to get asked all those questions. Most people aren’t going to pay $1,000 to $3,000 if they don’t know what they’re going to get.”

Jackson and his colleagues are offering learning opportunities for producers interested in direct-to-consumer meat sales with two workshops in August and September. Ranchers will learn about the regulatory aspects of the business, including what type of processor is required for each type of sale.

“If you want to keep it simple, pre-selling your livestock is the best option,” Jackson said. “Custom exempt processing removes the need for inspection, permits and even label approvals. It’s just like you’re selling a live animal to a neighbor or family member, and it can be processed at a local custom plant.”

For those who want to take their beef business to the next level and sell meat at local stores or farmers markets, the workshops will cover state and federal meat inspections, proper permitting, labeling and other associated regulations.

“If you’re storing inspected meats that will enter into commerce, you’ll need to register with the state,” Jackson said. “We’ll give you everything you need to know to start selling product and make sure you’re doing it right.”

An Economic Force

Although custom processing has returned to pre-COVID numbers, Yates at ODAFF said interest in processing facilities continues to climb, especially in the eastern half of the state. The Coronovirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and other economic grants that stemmed from the pandemic gave meat processors the cash they needed to build from scratch or expand.

“We’re still getting calls from folks who are wanting to build plants,” he said. “We’ve got people building or getting their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans ready for inspection, and some facilities are transitioning from state inspected to federal, so they can ship to other states.”

Yates said ODAFF has a good working relationship with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Custom processing plants that sell freezer beef not packaged for individual sale only require quarterly inspections, but those used to process meat marketed individually to the public are regularly inspected on days when processing occurs. Plants in Oklahoma with a Talmadge-Aiken federal classification can export overseas and are inspected by Oklahoma regulatory officials who are familiar with the community.

“It’s a good thing we’re getting back to more local processors,” Yates said. “It’s good for small-town economies. Most of our establishments have anywhere from five to 10 or 25 to 30 employees.”

New Opportunities in Agriculture

Outwest Farms, near Cleveland, Oklahoma, is one of the many value-added farming and ranching operations contributing to this growing niche market. When 32-year-old Jake Miller finished his bachelor’s degree a few years ago, he wanted to find a job and stay in Oklahoma. His family had always raised cattle as a food source for themselves, but Miller saw potential in a different group of customers.

(Farm Journal)

“You can buy a whole or half beef pretty much everywhere, but I had not seen a lot of people sell by the pound,” he said. “A lot of families don’t have freezer space for a whole animal, and selling it by the pound gives them a chance to buy local.”

Miller, his parents and his two siblings established Outwest Farms and processed their first animals at an Oklahoma-based federal facility in 2018. Building the business took time, but it quickly expanded after the pandemic forced the family to shift their marketing efforts.

“In 2021, we did a complete rebuild of our customer base and moved from mainly focusing on Facebook to Instagram and Google ads,” Miller said.

With the help of a couple of employees, Outwest Farms offers beef, pork, lamb and chicken with free home delivery in the Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Stillwater areas. Because it uses a federal processing facility, the farm can also ship out of state. Miller said the biggest hurdle now is competing with national distributors.

“The main thing all customers want is a connection to where their food comes from,” he said. “They just need to know you exist. More people my age are finding new opportunities to continue to farm and do family business.”

Skilled Meat Processing Workforce Demand Leads to Hands-On Mastery Program

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 19:48:28 GMT

Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center (FAPC) recently hosted the inaugural Meat Mastery Program in collaboration with Osage Nation. This hands-on program aimed to provide participants with comprehensive knowledge on multi-species meat harvesting and value-added meat product processing, says a recent OSU release .

There are several factors contributing to the growing workforce demand in food and agricultural products processing, says Ravi Jadeja, associate professor and principal project investigator, including decentralization, the need for local meats, food safety and food security. To address the critical shortage of skilled workers in the meat industry, FAPC developed this hands-on training program as a way to directly engage participants in the meat industry workforce.

In the release, Jadeja emphasized the project’s goal of leveraging OSU’s existing relationships with two-year colleges and meat industry partners to prepare the next generation of professionals in the meat industry. Over the next three years, a cohort of 60 students will undergo hands-on meat processing training in federally inspected meat processing facilities located at OSU and the Osage Nation. The project received funding through a USDA-NIFA workforce training grant.

“FAPC focused on a solution-oriented approach to successfully develop and execute a summer training program,” Jadeja says in the release. “Developing a hands-on training program comes with challenges, such as the purchasing of livestock and supplies. It’s also critical to not interfere with the day-to-day operations of commercial meat processing facilities involved in training participants.”

FAPC’s meat processing plant, equipped with the necessary training capabilities, facilitated student involvement throughout the entire process, while participants in the Meat Mastery Program worked closely with current student workers, assisting with activities like harvest, fabrication, packaging and labeling.

Roy Escoubas, FAPC director, expressed satisfaction with the successful outcome of the collaborative efforts.

“FAPC is pleased to be a part of such an important training that delivers technical information to the promising next generation of meat processors,” Escoubas adds in the release. “The future of the industry is dependent on elevated and value-added educational opportunities.”

Joel Jackson, meat pilot plant manager, highlighted the diverse group of participants from across the state who had the opportunity to interact with experienced professionals, gaining insights into their backgrounds and industry affiliations.

“We had an excellent group that was eager to participate, and we are looking forward to next year’s Meat Mastery Program,” says Jackson, in the release. “I look forward to seeing these young people go out and begin their career in the meat industry.”

Participants received grant-funded housing at the OSU-Stillwater campus and a $2,000 stipend sourced from grants upon completion of the program. The summer training program equipped participants with formal training and certificates in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, Good Manufacturing Practices and Sanitation.

Notable guests at the program included Blayne Arthur, Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry; Scott Yates, director of food safety, ODAFF; Erica Hering, president of Ralph’s Packing Co.; and Stephen Spurgeon, regional manager of Walton’s Inc. Faculty members from OSU’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences, including Gretchen Mafi, Morgan Pfeiffer, Ranjith Ramanathan, and Patricia Rayas-Duarte, served as co-project investigators. Pawnee Nation College, Murray State College, Connors State College, and the Oklahoma Texas Meat Processors Association were additional collaborators.

Meat Processing Plants: What Factors are Critical for Survival?

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 19:04:47 GMT

Meat processing plants in the U.S. have garnered considerable public attention in recent years, often focusing on production and labor issues. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the vulnerability of large, concentrated plants, as major shutdowns led to reduced output and higher meat prices for consumers.

Policy makers have launched initiatives at the state and federal levels to increase meat processing capacity and industry resilience, often favoring small and medium-sized plants. But little research exists to determine what factors make plants more likely to succeed. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at meat processing plants across the United States, aiming to identify characteristics associated with plant survival and provide crucial information for legislators.

“Even before the pandemic, there was a lot of focus on concentration in meat processing. When the pandemic hit, plants with thousands of workers shut down due to COVID outbreaks. Meat processing capacity was reduced by about 40% at the height of the lockdowns, and ongoing efforts to break up plants were intensified,” says Sarah Low, professor and head of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois. Low is co-author on the study, published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

“Our goal was to understand what factors are associated with plant survival, so we could better inform policymakers who want to invest in these plants,” Low adds.

The researchers analyzed data from 1997 to 2020 for U.S. non-poultry meat processors with more than five employees (poultry was excluded due to a unique industry structure). The analysis included 7,839 plants, focusing on plant-level characteristics, local context and concentration.

The study showed the majority of meat processing plants are located in the Eastern half of the U.S., although small and medium plants are more dispersed throughout the states. Many plants are clustered around major cities in proximity to large customer bases and available workforce — in fact, 86% of plants are located in metro or metro-adjacent counties.

The researchers found the average plant survived 9.7 years and 62% of the plants failed at some point during the study period, with small and medium plants more likely to fail than large plants.

“We did find a difference in factors associated with survival for the small and medium plants, compared to the large plants, as well as for urban versus rural plants. For small plants, survival was closely related to business diversification. If they added a retail or wholesale meat market, they were more likely to survive,” explains Catherine Isley, senior business analyst at The Context Network and lead author on the study.

“For larger plants, we found that local context, including workforce-related variables, was more closely related to plant survival. We didn’t find much evidence for the impact of concentration, except for large non-metro plants, where concentration was related to increased survival. This finding suggests that policies aiming to support small and medium meat processors by breaking up larger processors might negatively impact output and industry capacity,” she stated.

If plants are spread out across the country, then workers would have to be spread out as well, Low noted. “There are locations in Nebraska or Kansas, where whole communities are set up to serve immigrant workers. If you want to break up these big processors and have plants in small towns, who’s going to work there? We currently have a shortage of labor nationwide, and many plants rely on an immigrant workforce,” she said.

Policy initiatives for large plants need to address labor availability issues and support the labor force effectively, Low and Isley point out. This could include, for example, increasing the number of visas for immigrant workers, training new workers, improving working conditions and investing in research and development to automate processes.

For small and medium plants, there is a different set of policy implications.

“To allocate federal or state dollars in the most efficient way, it would make sense to support plants that are diversified and more likely to survive,” Isley says. “But on the flip side, the goal might be to support plants that are more likely to fail, because otherwise those local communities wouldn’t have a plant. However, this approach would only work in areas where the market can support value-added niche products. There’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution for small plants.”

The researchers also found that small plants managed by women in rural areas are less likely to survive. Thus, an additional target for investments could be technical assistance for very small women-operated plants in rural areas, including entrepreneurial training and ecosystem building. Low suggests leveraging the expertise of Cooperative Extension Services, such as Illinois Extension, which are uniquely positioned to provide support and resources for small businesses in local areas.

The article, “Meat processing plant survival: The role of plant and regional characteristics,” is published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association [doi.org/10.1002/jaa2.55]. Authors are Catherine Isley and Sarah Low.

This research was supported in part by USDA OCE cooperative agreement #58-0111-21-009, “State and Regional Farm Financial Analysis” and by the Missouri Ag. Experiment Station and University of Missouri Extension.

Meatpacker JBS Ends Contracts with U.S. Company Fined for Hiring Kids

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 14:42:21 GMT

By Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas

JBS USA is ending contracts with a U.S. company fined for hiring kids to clean meat plants, the unit of Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA said on Monday, adding it is bringing the work in-house at some facilities.

The changes show how a U.S. government investigation into food-safety sanitation company Packers Sanitation Services Inc (PSSI) is prompting adjustments by major meat companies.

JBS said it does not tolerate child labor and is shifting away from PSSI at every location where alleged child labor violations occurred, spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said.

The meatpacker is employing different third-party providers at some plants and hiring its own workers at others, including at a beef facility in Cactus, Texas, that was not the site of alleged labor violations, Richardson added.

PSSI will eliminate 113 positions in Cactus, Texas, on May 30, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) data. PSSI confirmed that the WARN notice was for the JBS plant in Cactus. The company previously said it had a zero tolerance policy for employing minors.

The U.S. Department of Labor in February said PSSI paid $1.5 million in penalties for employing more than 100 teenagers in dangerous jobs at meatpacking plants in eight states.

Two of the largest penalties stemmed from PSSI’s contracts at JBS plants in Nebraska and Minnesota. PSSI was also fined for hiring children to work at a third JBS facility in Colorado, along with facilities owned by other meat companies.

The Labor Department did not accuse the meatpackers of wrongdoing, though the Biden administration has urged meat companies to examine their supply chains for evidence of child labor.

Reuters has reported that the illegal use of child workers - particularly migrants - has been widespread, including at chicken plants in Alabama and by contractors who employed workers at Hyundai and Kia assembly plants. The automakers have said they do not condone labor law violations.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago and Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio and Jamie Freed)

More on this Topic:

Labor Department Seeks Injunction to Stop Child Labor Violations

USDA Voices Concern About Rising Incidence of Illegal Child Labor

Tyson Foods Nurse Forges License, Practices Illegally For 15 Years

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 19:24:20 GMT

For the past 15 years, a plant nurse at a Tyson Foods medical clinic has been treating patient workers without a license, Shelbyville, Tenn., police report.

Bobbie Gail Blair, 49, has been charged with 10 counts of impersonation of a medical professional and two counts of identity theft after falsely claiming to be licensed, using the license number of legitimate Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) from elsewhere in Tennessee, Detective Nathaniel Everhart of the Shelbyville police said to a local news source .

Blair, the wife of the Tyson Foods’ plant manager, Andrew Blair, is said to have treated more than 15,000 patients at the clinic since starting in 2007. Marrying years after starting as the nurse, Andrew Blair showed no evidence of having known his wife did not have a nursing license.

Everhart’s investigation shows Blair graduated from the LPN program at Tennessee College of Applied Technology in McMinnville prior to starting at Tyson, however Blair tried and failed the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) twice, denying her a proper nursing license.

While in-house medical clinics are overseen by Tyson’s corporate headquarters nursing staff in Ark., Everhart said Blair provided forged documents, including a fake license using Blair’s legal name.

“The license on file was fake. She forged it. We couldn’t prove who actually forged it, her or someone on her behalf, but she was behind it,” Everhart explains to a local news source.

At the facility, Blair’s duties included treating minor cuts, bruises and burns, dispensing medication not requiring a prescription and other types of minor ailments not requiring a trip outside the plant, Everhart says, while no drugs, specifically opioids, were distributed by Blair.

Regarding the situation, a Tyson spokesperson told a local news source, “We take this issue very seriously. While we don’t comment on active criminal matters, as soon as law enforcement reached out, we fully cooperated.”

Everhart echoed that Tyson has been cooperative with law enforcement and forthcoming with the investigation.

Blair was indicted by a Bedford County grand jury on Monday, arrested Friday, Feb. 24, and has been released on $10,000 bond.

Meatpacking Plant ICE Raid Lawsuit Settlement Favors Tennessee Immigrant Workers

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 15:51:23 GMT

When a meatpacking plant in Bean Station, Tenn., became the location of a federal immigration raid in 2018, nearly 100 immigrant worker arrests were made. After a five-year-long lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough on Monday ordered the U.S. government pay $475,000 to six individual plaintiffs and an additional $550,000 to a class settlement fund, a local news outlet reports .

The lawsuit filed following the event says agents did not have warrants for the arrest of workers. Instead, the warrant was to execute an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) search for business financial documents and tax violations related to James Brantley, the plant’s owner.

During the raid, Latino workers were targeted, arrested and a majority of the workers were placed in deportation court proceedings with at least 20 deported shortly after.

According to the lawsuit, workers were not asked about their immigration status until after being handcuffed, and many arrested in the raid complained of being “manhandled and threatened at gunpoint.” The lawsuit also reports at least one worker had legal immigration status, was handcuffed and held against his will for more than two hours, even after producing his papers.

Additionally, a Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation later found many of the workers had been operating in dirty, dangerous conditions and had been receiving wages as low as $6 per hour with no overtime pay, local news reports.

The lawsuit, filed by a large number of the workers against federal agents of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, claimed the Southeastern Provision workers’ fourth and fifth amendment constitutional rights were violated.

Monday’s decision is considered to be the first-ever class action settlement over a workplace immigration raid in the U.S.

Vilsack Lists USDA's 4 Policy Objectives for 2023

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 14:16:20 GMT

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has a history of making key announcements during visits, and that was the case during his appearance at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Puerto Rico.

Some of them include:

1. ERP Phase 2

Vilsack announced Phase 2 of the ERP, which will provide help to producers for production and quality losses of eligible crops, utilizing calculations of a producer’s decrease in gross revenue.

Those were about to be released months ago but were pulled back at the last minute due to lawmaker and farmer complaints. USDA eventually announced anyway.

USDA said in documentation on file at the Federal Register that using that approach will reflect the losses “without requiring the more extensive calculations and documentation required under previous programs” for disaster-related crop losses. USDA said this streamlines the aid to minimize the burden on producers and processing of applications by county FSA offices. Using that process also means it will address losses for a qualifying disaster event whether it happened before or after harvest.

ERP Phase 2 will be available for a decrease in gross revenue in 2020 or 2021, primarily to those with losses not covered by Federal Crop Insurance or the Noninsured Assistance Program (NAP).

The application period is Jan. 23-June 2. USDA has already paid out $7.31 billion under ERP Phase 1 as of Jan. 8, up from $7.28 billion the prior week, including $6.23 billion for non-specialty crops ($6.21 billion prior) and $1.09 billion for specialty crops ($1.08 billion prior). A total of $10 billion was earmarked for ERP.

USDA projects outlays for ERP Phase 2 payments will be $1.2 billion and will likely be pro-rated as USDA projects total gross outlays at $1.5 billion.

Phase 2 Reflection

Phase I was highly successful and it worked well. Phase 2 has tons of problems. Comparing schedule F in relevant years to past years doesn’t reflect losses. A farmer may have had to sell land or livestock when they didn’t want to. They may have sold a previous year’s crop in the year in question. These and other things skew the schedule F. There is also the issue of forcing farmers to share schedule F info with local FSA offices.

2. Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP)

Vilsack announced PARP payments for producers that suffered a 15% or greater decrease in allowable gross revenue for the 2020 calendar year compared with either 2018 or 2019. This effort, Vilsack said, aims to “fill in gaps” for losses covered by either Phase 1 or Phase 2 of ERP.

The payments will have a factor of 80% (90% for underserved farmers and ranchers) and will be reduced by 2020 ERP payments, and pandemic assistance under either the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) 1 or 2 and other pandemic aid.

Payments will be limited to $125,000 per person or entity and USDA may set a lower maximum payment amount per person if total payments exceed available funding and USDA expects that to be the case — PARP outlays are projected at $250 million with gross outlays pegged at $2.66 billion.

USDA also will expand payments under prior efforts such as CFAP 2 and others. The total payments USDA projects under the ERP Phase 2, PARP and expanded other programs is $1.82 billion with gross amounts at $4.54 billion.

3. U.S.-Made Fertilizer

USDA will seek public comment on 21 potentially viable projects totaling up to $88 million to boost U.S. fertilizer production via the first round of USDA’s Federal Production Expansion Program, a $500 million effort announced earlier this year.

The projects are in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. USDA is seeking comments through Feb. 8 on the environmental impacts of the projects.

4. Meat and Poultry Processing

Vilsack announced three projects in Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota which will expand independent meat and poultry processing capacity via the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program.

The projects total $12 million and are in addition to other recently announced efforts in the sector.

More on policy:

We Have ERP Phase II
Policy and Payments: What Producers Can Expect in 2023

Sen. Booker Proposes Industrial Agricultural Accountability Act

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:16:33 GMT

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has unveiled new legislation targeting America’s large livestock “corporations and industrial operators,” seeking to hold such entities accountable for disaster mitigation and to ensure those entities are complying with animal welfare regulations.

The Industrial Agricultural Accountability Act would end line-speed increases and “meatpacker self-inspection programs” for animal slaughter, prohibit slaughter of all downed animals and require “more humane treatment of livestock transported for long periods.”

Booker announced his proposal with a news release posted to his website Tuesday.

The proposed legislation would also require large entities to register with USDA, submit a disaster preparedness plan and pay a fee to establish a fund focused on disaster events.

“This new fund, the High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation Fund, will be utilized to enforce disaster mitigation plans and ensure that the most humane practices are used if depopulation is absolutely necessary,” the release said.

Booker also proposes to invest resources for higher-welfare slaughter technology in meat and poultry processing facilities and establish a pilot program to train and employ more part-time inspectors for small processing plants.

“We’ve seen multiple recent crises that have shined a light on the threat that corporate meat producers and their web of factory farms represent to workers, animals, the environment, and rural communities,” booker said. “Built by agribusinesses, the industrial livestock and poultry system is designed to maximize production– while externalizing risk and liability– to ensure corporate profits even when the system fails.”

The full text of the bill can be found here. The list of supporting organizations can be found here.

Biden Administration Announces First Round of Investments to Increase Competition and Expand Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 05:25:43 GMT

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $73 million in 21 grant projects through the first round of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). MPPEP delivers on President Biden‘s call to increase competition across the economy to help lower costs for American families. Today’s announcement will expand meat and poultry processing capacity, which in turn increases competition, supports producer income, and strengthens the food supply chain to lower costs for working families and create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas. In addition, the Administration is investing $75 million for eight projects through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program, as well as more than $75 million for four meat and poultry-related projects through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan program.

These announcements support the Biden-Harris Administration’s Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain , which dedicates resources to expand independent processing capacity. As President Biden highlighted earlier this year, creating fairer markets and more opportunities for family farmers helps bring down prices at the grocery store.

“Since President Biden laid out a commitment at the start of this year, USDA has worked tirelessly to give farmers and ranchers a fair chance to compete in the marketplace, which in turn helps lower food costs for the American people,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “By jumpstarting independent processing projects and increasing processing capacity, these investments create more opportunities for farmers and ranchers to get a fair price, while strengthening supply chains, delivering more food produced closer to home for families, expanding economic opportunity, and creating jobs in rural America.”

USDA is delivering on the multi-pronged goals of these investments:

• Supporting producer-focused business models: Montana Premium Processing Cooperative (MPPC), a start-up cooperative, created in partnership with the Montana Farmers Union and Farmers Union Industries, will use MPPEP funds to provide independent producers in Montana with an option for a local USDA inspected meat processing facility in an area that is currently without Federally inspected processing.

• Strengthening Local and Regional Food Systems: Vermont Livestock Slaughter & Processing connects hundreds of farmers in Vermont and the Northeast with the individuals, families, schools, and businesses they supply. With their MPPEP investment, they are now prepared to revitalize and modernize their multi-species facility, tripling their throughput.

• Reducing barriers to processing: Cutting Edge Meat Company, a facility in Leakesville, Mississippi, provides pork and beef processing for producers in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida. With this investment, they will significantly increase their capacity and shorten the six-month backlog for processing currently facing producers.

• Competing at scale: Greater Omaha Packing in Omaha, Nebraska, will open new opportunities for cattle producers by expanding their beef processing capacity by 700 head per day. The project will also support an additional 275 jobs.

• Restoring jobs in rural places: Pure Prairie, recently purchased a shuttered poultry plant in Charles City, Iowa, with the goal of returning hundreds of jobs to the small rural community and increasing poultry processing in the upper Midwest. The project sources directly from growers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, who are also shareholders and part owners in the company.

• Empowering family-owned businesses: New Stockton Poultry in Stockton, California, is a family-owned business that sources and processes specialty chickens to meet demand within a variety of immigrant communities and beyond.

The investments announced today are part of a series of financial assistance tools to support producers and lenders in increasing capacity in the food supply chain.

MPPEP was designed to support capacity expansion projects in concert with other private and public finance tools. Today’s announcement is the first round of funding made available through Phase I of MPEPP. Additional announcements are expected in the coming weeks. USDA will also soon begin taking applications for a new phase to deploy an additional $225 million, for a total of up to $375 million, to provide gap financing for independent processing plant projects that fill a demonstrated need for more diversified processing capacity. For more information about MPPEP, click here .

The Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP) provides grant funding to nonprofit intermediary lenders who finance – or plan to finance – the start-up, expansion, or operation of slaughter, or other processing of meat and poultry. The objective of the MPILP is to strengthen the financing system for independent meat processors, and to create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain. In the first round of MPILP $75 million was awarded to eight lenders in seven states. Applications for second cycle ($125 million) are currently being accepted and are due December 31, 2022.

Through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan program (FSCGLP), USDA partners with lenders to guarantee loans to help eligible entities expand meat and poultry processing capacity and strengthen the U.S. food supply chain. Lenders provide the loans to eligible cooperatives, corporations, for profits, nonprofits, Tribal communities, public bodies and people in rural and urban areas. Since the FSCGLP was launched in December 2021, more than $250 million in loans have been guaranteed for projects in the middle of the food supply chain. Four of these, announced today and totaling more than $75 million, are for meat and poultry processing businesses.

For a full list of awards under these programs, visit: https://www.rd.usda.gov/sites/default/files/11-02-2022-Food-Systems-Transformation-Chart-OSEC.pdf

Today’s announcement is one of many actions that USDA is taking to expand processing capacity and increase competition in meat and poultry processing to make agricultural markets more accessible, fair, competitive, and resilient, and builds upon the Department’s efforts to transform the nation’s food system. Additional information on all these programs is available at usda.gov/meat.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, promoting competition and fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov .

Not in My Backyard: Tennessee Residents Voice Concerns About Proposed Processing Plant Location

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 18:44:12 GMT

How long of a waitlist does your local locker have?

For some across the nation, it might be months to even a year or more before there is an open slot available to take an animal to butcher.

Meat Processing Cooperative

For folks in Washington County, Tenn., near Jonesborough, establishing a meat processing cooperative, to be operated by the Appalachian Producers Cooperative, was their first step in creating the opportunity for more animals to be harvested locally. This will be the first farmer-owned cooperative established in Tennessee in more than 50 years.

In March of this year, the county’s commissioners approved $2 million in county funding towards a $10-million project to build the processing facility planned to harvest 25 to 30 head of livestock per day. Additional funding is anticipated through government grants , bank loans and member contributions.

Many called it an investment in the future of Washington County agriculture, says a local news source. The facility would also employ a staff of 20 to 25 people, a local source states .

However, the project faced opposition early on, with county residents unhappy with the idea that $2 million of taxpayer contributions would be given to private industry.

After several amendments to the original proposal, the following resolution was created, according to a local news source :

• A right of first refusal for Washington County over the next 10 years

• In the event of the cooperation failing, either by liquidation, loans defaulting or failure to secure construction, the county would take control of the operation and assume any debt

• The cooperative must report back to the commission every six months and annually through the 10-year period

• The cooperative cannot spend any of the county’s money until it is needed

• The county will recoup some of its investment by receiving a cut of distributions from the cooperative based on the county’s percentage of the total investment in the project

Not in My Backyard

Location has also been a sticking point for local residents.

Originally, the project considered three site locations within the Jonesborough area. Most recently, the site options have been narrowed to two, considering one site near the Jonesborough Flea Market and the other next to the Eagle’s Nest subdivision.

A recent meeting of the Jonesborough Regional Planning Commission brought several disapproving residents of the subdivision with concerns, including:

• Value of their homes

• Unpleasant smells

• Noise from the facility

• Amount of traffic

• Effects on water quality

However, this meeting failed to meet quorum requirements, due to the absence of commissioners, including the chairman and vice chairman. Additionally, Scot Hamilton, the man applying for the re-zoning, was not present, says a local news source .

A recommendation on which property will be re-zoned will likely take place at the regional planning commission’s September meeting, and a decision may be reached at the county commissioner’s meeting in late September.

Though the site near the subdivision is not first choice, residents plan to continue voicing their concerns at the upcoming meetings.

New $2 Million Meat Processing Facility Gives Opportunity to Prison Residents

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 19:32:59 GMT

A new, $2 million meat processing facility has officially opened as part of the Northeastern Regional Corrections Center’s (NERCC) working farm.

A nearly 5,200-sq.-ft. building and the facility’s working residents process small and large animals, including poultry, sheep, goats, hogs, cattle, deer, elk and buffalo. The facility’s first smokehouse is also part of the new building.

NRECC is a rural, minimum-security prison located 22 miles north of Duluth, Minn. The 3,200-acre property was designated as a working farm in the 1930s and includes gardens, orchards, animals and a new greenhouse in addition to the new processing facility.

State funds were provided for the project, as local lawmakers pushed for a modernized meat plant, a local news source reports . In addition to modernization, capacity is also a welcome feature. Matt Wrazidlo, the processing plant manager, estimates he and his team of five to 10 men could process around 25% more meat than in the past facility.

The processing plant is open to local producers as both custom and non-inspected, as well as Minnesota Department of Agriculture Inspected processing. Additionally, animals grown at NERCC are harvested to provide meat for residents and excess is donated to area food shelves.

Processing on NERCC not only keeps costs of food at the facility down, but it also provides an opportunity for residents to learn an in-demand trade. Residents working at the facility can earn a Meat Processing Certificate and become a Certified Food Protection Manager.

Residents can also earn a GED and gain experience in cooking, baking, gardening, maintenance and mechanics while staying at NERCC.

NERCC’s philosophy is to “increase the capacity of the individual to make the changes necessary to become a productive member of the community and avoid further contact with the criminal justice system.”

About 90% of residents do not commit a crime within three years of leaving the NERCC, according to Wally Kostich, executive director of Arrowhead Regional Corrections.

Focus on Vaccines – Not Inflexible Standards, Meat Institute Urges

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:56:13 GMT

Meat and poultry workers need a new standard that prioritizes vaccines, the North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) says.

The Biden administration is taking a close look at workplace safety standards and is seeking to deliver on its commitment to vaccinate all American adults within months. The Meat Institute says vaccinating frontline meat and poultry workers should be high priority, in addition to reaffirming protections that have successfully brought infection rates in the sector more than 80% below the general population.

“Frontline meat and poultry workers deserve immediate access to vaccines as they continue feeding Americans and keeping our farm economy working. The administration should commit to workers’ long-term safety, not create inflexible standards that could force facilities to decrease capacity utilization,” says Meat Institute president and CEO Julie Anna Potts.

Data Proves Efforts Work
New data from the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), notes there were just 4.81 new reported cases per 100,000 meat and poultry workers per day in February 2021, compared with 26.15 cases per 100,000 people in the general U.S. population as reported by the New York Times.

The Meat Institute reports that independent scientific research proves the effectiveness of the COVID-19 prevention measures implemented in the sector since spring 2020. The University of Nebraska Medical Center found that the combination of universal masking and physical barriers reduced cases significantly in 62% of meat facilities studied.

An analysis published in the Lancet in June 2020 found that distancing of 3 feet and using facemasks each reduce transmission by about 80%, and using eye protection reduces transmission by about 65%, a Meat Institute release says.

A February 2021 Meat Institute survey of more than 250 facilities employing more than 150,000 workers found COVID-19 protections implemented since spring 2020 include:
• COVID-19 hazard assessments; designated COVID-19 coordinators
• Entry screening measures and controls
• Increased sanitation and disinfection practices
• Training and education materials on COVID-19 symptoms and prevention, in multiple languages
• Mandatory face coverings
• Increase flexibility in leave policies
• Physical barriers in food production and other areas (e.g., break rooms, cafeterias)

Read More:

China is Just Part of the Demand Story Sparking a Surge in Pork Prices

Veterinarians Authorized To Administer COVID-19 Vaccine In Some States

So, You Want to Build a Meat Processing Facility? Five Initial Steps to Consider

JBS Faces Lawsuit for Contract Breach of Arkansas Pig Farm

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 13:42:45 GMT

Frequently appearing in antitrust allegations of price fixation , JBS faces a new lawsuit by Arkansas pig farmer, Justin Garner, for breaching a pig production contract and failing to pay for animals.

JBS is the second-largest pork producer in the world, and along with three other companies, controls almost 70% of the U.S. pork industry, according to recent district court documents . Utilizing vertical integration, JBS contracts pig farms to supply pork for their facilities.

Garner worked as a Howard County sheriff deputy and operated a family farm when he began to consider a 40-acre hog farm for sale used to produce pigs for JBS. Under contract with JBS, Garner understood that the farm would rely on the partnership to be successful, said the court documents.

Garner signed a five-year contract with JBS. As the farmer, Garner covered the entire investment cost of the farm facility, as well as the expense of owning and operating the facility. Under this contract, Garner was to be paid a set cost per pig dictated by JBS, said the court documents. In addition, JBS retained control over production output and day-to-day processes at the facility.

“Even under perfect conditions, many farmers are barely able to generate enough revenue under these term contracts to pay their expenses,” Garner explained in a recent complaint filed under district court.

Garner believes JBS’s contract was “incredibly one-sided” and favorable to JBS. Additionally, the contract allowed JBS “the unilateral right to amend, revise, or eliminate any standard, requirement or policy identified in this Agreement,” the complaint stated.

Multiple instances caused Garner financial loss according to the complaint. JBS began docking Garner for underweight pigs due to a unilateral change in their Sow Production Agreement. JBS also failed to provide gilts to Garner’s farm, which impacted his ability to produce under the contract.

On Nov. 8, 2021, Garner received contract termination notice and the complaint said, “The JBS representatives told Garner that he had to sign the document on November 8, 2021, in their presence.” JBS also told Garner that he would not receive any payment he was due, unless he signed the document that day.

Garner chose not to sign the document that was “a waiver, drafted by JBS, designed to prevent Garner from exercising any and all legal rights or pursuing any claims against JBS for its unilateral termination of the contract. The document also required Garner to keep its terms ‘secret and confidential’ and precluded him from disclosing its terms to anyone,” the complaint said.

Garner had not received any indication of issues with the farm prior to termination.

The unsigned document left all livestock under JBS possession. Garner was not paid the money he was owed and is now left with a waste lagoon and a facility that he can’t sell as the complaint explained, “some prospective purchasers were simply told by JBS that it would not provide a contract for the production of pigs at Garner’s farm.”

Garner has requested a jury trial.

Funding for Processors Continues into Summer 2022

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 19:52:57 GMT

On Friday, USDA shared the launch of the Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity Technical Assistance Program (MPPTA), available to applicants involved with the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant (MPIRG) program and the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP).

The MPRIG and MPPEP follow a slew of USDA announcements delivered under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 to foster a fair, competitive and resilient meat supply chain.

Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) and USDA Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt joined forces in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday to host a roundtable regarding the processor progress.

The need for market competition and transparency in farm country is more apparent than ever, Axne says. The grant program will not only help the processors in rural communities, but she says it will also provide producers “more options, ensuring a fair price for their cattle.”

Moffitt says her main objective is to ensure all producers have access to USDA dollars and programming.

“We know meat and poultry processing is a tough industry to break into. There are lot of complexities and it’s important to complete the pre-application process the right way,” she says. “We see there’s a need for qualified technical expertise to capture the projects for producers and MPPTA will address that need.”

A total of three technical assistance locations have been negotiated at Oregon State University’s Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, the Flower Hill Institute (New Mexico) and the Intertribal Agricultural Council (Montana). The hubs will help applicants navigate the application process and assist grant recipients throughout their projects.

Additional Funding, Additional Opportunities

In November 2021, the USDA announced $32 million in grants set aside for processors looking to make necessary improvements to achieve a federal grant of inspection through the USDA—commonly known as Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) certification. An FSIS certification allows processors to ship product across state lines, opening a new door for business.

According to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, the program’s previous “success” with 160 processors unearthed the need for a second round of payments announced on Friday, in the range of $23.6 million.

The last few years have unearthed the “extreme” fragility in the U.S. food supply chain, according to Moffitt. She says this FSIS program will help level the processor playing field.

“Operations from Pennsylvania to California that started up pre-COVID-19 were hit hard with the pandemic. They lost their ability to move their local product to their local processor,” says Moffitt. “This program is truly about helping those operations that are looking to expand and develop new markets with increased capacity.”

Phase one of FSIS grant financing ends on April 11, with a second round following into summer 2022.

Read more on USDA processing:
> Biden Plan Directs $1 Billion To Impact Meat & Poultry Processing, Strengthen P&SA, Add New Labeling Rules

> Biden’s Action Plan Draws Mixed Reviews From Cattlemen

Biden Plan Directs $1 Billion To Impact Meat & Poultry Processing, Strengthen P&SA, Add New Labeling Rules

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 14:44:17 GMT

The Biden Administration announced Monday it will spend $1 billion in American Rescue Funds to expand independent meat processing capacity as part of a broader initiative to break up what it calls a meat and poultry processor monopoly.

President Biden’s action plan also promises new, stronger rules under the Packers & Stockyards Act, and to issue new “Product of USA” labeling rules. Included in today’s announcement was a “joint initiative” between the Justice Department and USDA to better coordinate their efforts.

“Over the last few decades, we’ve seen too many industries become dominated by a handful of large companies that control most of the business and most of the opportunities—raising prices and decreasing options for American families, while also squeezing out small businesses and entrepreneurs,” the White House said in a statement. “The meat and poultry processing sector is a textbook example, with lack of competition hurting consumers, producers, and our economy.”

In July, President Biden announced a plan to improve competition and resilience in the meat and poultry sectors. Monday’s announcement included a four-prong Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain the White House hopes will “loosen the grip that consolidated corporations currently have on the industries.” The new Action Plan also seeks to support workers and independent processors, strengthen protections for farmers, ranchers and consumers, enforce fair competition and increase pricing and market transparency.

Details of the President’s Plan

USDA said it reviewed nearly 450 comments in response to its request for input on how best to increase independent processing capacity. Through analysis of stakeholder input, USDA identified an urgent need to:

Expand and diversify meat and poultry processing capacity;
Increase producer income;
Provide producers an opportunity to have ownership in processing facilities;
Create stable, well-paying jobs in rural regions;
Raise the bar on worker health, safety, training, and wages for meatpacking jobs;
Spur collaboration among producers and workers;
Prompt state, tribal, and private co-investment; and
Provide consumers with more choices

What the Plan Means for Farmers and Ranchers

Specifically for farmers and ranchers, the White House Action Plan promises in 2022 the administration will:

Issue new, stronger rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act—the law designed to combat abuses by the meatpackers and processors. The law was systematically weakened by the Trump Administration USDA, and in the Biden Administration, USDA has already begun work on three proposed rules to provide greater clarity and strengthen enforcement under the Act. USDA is also currently working with the Federal Trade Commission to prepare a report on access to retail and competition’s role in protecting new market entrants in meat processing.
Issue new “Product of USA” labeling rules so that consumers can better understand where their meat comes from. Under current labeling rules, meat can be labeled “Product of USA” if it is only processed here—including when meat is raised overseas and then merely processed into cuts of meat here. We believe this could make it hard for American consumers to know what they are getting. USDA has already begun its top-to-bottom review of the current labeling rules and consumers’ understanding of the labels, with the goal of new rule making to clarify “Product of USA” standards.

(Farm Journal)

Plan to Promote Competition

It is the policy of the Administration to promote vigorous and fair enforcement of the existing competition, and to ensure “all of government” works together to promote competition:

DOJ and USDA are announcing a new joint initiative to better coordinate their efforts—including launching within 30 days a new portal for reporting concerns about potential violations of the competition laws. The President’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition established the White House Competition Council to coordinate a “whole of government approach” to promoting competition. In furtherance of this approach, Competition Council members USDA and DOJ will provide a new joint channel for farmers and ranchers to report complaints of potentially unfair and anticompetitive practices in the agricultural sector to them—whether under the Sherman and Clayton Acts or the Packers and Stockyards Act. This joint channel will facilitate the agencies’ ability to work together based on a common understanding of farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns. The agencies will protect the confidentiality of the complainants to the fullest extent allowed under the law.
The agencies also announced their commitment to the strongest possible whistleblower protections. DOJ and USDA further announced that they will enhance their collaboration on referrals, information sharing, and identifying areas of the law in need of modernization.

Turning up the Heat on Transparency

The Biden-Harris Administration will work to increase transparency in cattle markets so that ranchers can get a fair price for their work:

USDA is using its existing authorities to increase transparency to the extent possible. Right now, meatpackers have outsized power in setting the prices for beef. The dominance of opaque contracts and insufficient competition undermine price discovery and fairness in the independent livestock markets, which ultimately lock producers into prices that aren’t the product of free and fair negotiation. In August, USDA began issuing new market reports on what beef processors pay to provide additional insight into formula cattle trades and help promote fair and competitive markets. USDA is looking at what more can be done under existing authorities.
The Biden-Harris Administration will also work with Congress to make cattle markets fairer and more transparent. The Administration is encouraged to see bipartisan legislation in the Senate by Senators Grassley, Fischer, Tester, and Wyden, and in the House by Representatives Axne and Feenstra, that seeks to improve price discovery in the cattle markets and facilitate actual negotiation of prices between livestock producers and packers. We look forward to working with Congress on these important issues, and we hope that they will also look for ways to ensure farmers and ranchers have fair access to processing capacity.

COVID-19: Cargill Closes Pennsylvania Plant

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 17:39:21 GMT

Cargill Protein closed its Hazelton, PA, plant on Tuesday, saying it will reopen “as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The Hazelton plant is in Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania, which, according to WBRE/WYOU-TV, has the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the area with 982, and 849 of them in Hazelton. An unspecified number of Cargill employees at the plant have tested positive.

Cargill employs 900 workers at the plant producing meat products for retail food customers. Those products include ground beef, steaks, roasts and pork products.

“Our goal is to keep our 900 employees healthy and minimize risk within the Hazleton community, which has been greatly impacted by COVID-19,” the company said in a statement.

“This was a difficult decision for our team, but our values are guiding our actions,” said Jon Nash, Cargill Protein-North America, in the statement. “We’ve taken extra steps to focus on safety and remain operational, including temporary wage increases, bonuses and waiving co-pays for COVID-19 testing. We also implemented additional safety measures. Our facility will re-open as soon as is it is safe to do so.

“While this location is closed and we adapt to operating during a pandemic, our work doesn’t stop. Cargill provides an essential service. We are working with farmers and ranchers, our customers and our employees to supply food in this time of crisis and keep markets moving.”

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New Beef and Pork Facility Planned for So. Illinois

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 17:46:22 GMT

Saline River Farms, LLC, has announced plans to build an 83,000-square-foot beef and pork processing facility in southern Illinois. The project is part of USDA’s efforts to increase capacity and diversify processing facilities across the U.S.

The facility is planned for Williamson County, which is located about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Saline River Farms said it will use the latest processing technology and innovation, and forecasts production of 40,320,000 pounds of beef and 19,152,000 pounds of pork annually. The company will invest over $87 million into local agriculture over the next year.

“We have received tremendous support from the cities of Marion, Herrin, and Creal Springs and have worked tirelessly with congressman Mike Bost, Sen. Dale Fowler, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office, Williamson County Board Chairman Jim Marlo, and other elected officials to bring these career jobs to Southern Illinois,” stated Ted Hampson, an attorney spokesperson for Saline River Farms, LLC.

Saline River Farms, LLC will provide wholesale beef and pork processing services, consumer beef and pork processing services, direct to consumer mail order meat distribution, and will have an on-premises retail store. The Company will distribute product under several different labels.

Cattle & Hog By-Product Values Highest in Six Years

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 18:32:23 GMT

Steer, cow and hog by-product values have each reached their highest level in nearly six years. Year-to-date steer hide and offal value has increased $6.01 per cwt. (65.8%) to $15.14 last week.

That value is nearly double what it was a year ago, and 43.5% higher than the five-year average, according to the Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC), Denver. The last time the steer hide and offal values reached a higher level was during 2014 and into January 2015. Steer, cow and hog by-product values are reported by USDA in the Weekly National Carlot Meat Report.

Since the beginning of this year the strength in the steer hide and offal value has been supported by cheek meat which has gained about $60 per cwt. (29.5%) and tripe (scalded, edible) has risen $66 (74.2%), according to LMIC. Edible tallow has nearly doubled reaching $72.75 per cwt., while tongues have more than doubled to $900 per cwt.

Steer hide values are the highest in three years. Heavy native hide prices have increased 45.6% to $71.19 per cwt., and butt branded hides are up 50.6% to $71.81 per cwt.

Cow by-product value was $15.83 last week, off slightly from the previous week, but more than double the price recorded last year. Since Jan. 1, cow by-product value has increased $5.32 per cwt. (50.6%) and reached its highest level since October 2014.

Hog by-product values last week were $5.59, the highest price this year and highest since December 2014. Since last year, hog by-product values are up 47.9%.

Senators Ask Treasury Secretary To Investigate JBS

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 22:42:42 GMT

JBS SA executives told market analysts last week they continue to seek opportunities for acquisitions and expansion. Meanwhile, two U.S. senators are calling on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to investigate if the Brazilian-owned meatpacker used proceeds from a bribery scheme to expand its US operations.

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively, sent a letter Friday to Yellen asking her to launch a probe of JBS and the owners of its parent company, Joesley and Wesley Batista, through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). CFIUS is chaired by the Treasury secretary and has the power to review and block the acquisitions of U.S. companies by foreign entities if the transactions could threaten national security.

Last October, J&F Investimentos, the JBS parent company, agreed to pay a $256 million fine to the Justice Department over charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Batista brothers had previously admitted to paying roughly $150 million to bribe more than 1,800 Brazilian government officials to secure $1.3 billion in loans from the Brazilian Development Bank and federal pension funds.

Both JBS USA and Pilgrim’s Pride, now a subsidiary, also paid more than $100 million in fines to settle price-fixing charges.

“When foreign companies benefit from corrupt practices and spread them to U.S. markets, they jeopardize our economic security, present direct risks to our businesses, and undermine our efforts to fight corruption abroad,” Menendez and Rubio wrote in their letter to Yellen.

During the call with analysts, JBS Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gilberto Tomazoni said the company looks for acquisitions aligned with its strategy, able to generate synergies and which could add value to JBS. The company is mainly focused on increasing its value-added and branded products in its portfolio.

The CEO of JBS USA, André Nogueira, said that JBS has the advantage of evaluating acquisition opportunities globally.

“We are looking at (potential opportunities) in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia... It is a global vision and we will decide based on the value that we will add to the company. I don’t see any other company that has this ability to look and decide where the acquisition is better, where there is more synergy, or whether acquisitions or organic growth makes sense,” he said.

Novameat Plans To Print Fake Steak

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:51:27 GMT

In a crowded field where Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have already become familiar brands, Novameat made a splash last week with the announcement it has secured funding from foodtech investment firm New Crop Capital. The news broke at the Good Food Conference in San Francisco, an event focused on expanding the plant-based and cell-based meat alternatives market.

Investors rushing to join the fake meat business is not necessarily newsworthy, until you learn Novameat is developing equipment capable of 3D printing meatless “steaks.”

Novameat founder Giuseppe Scionti is a bioengineering researcher and entrepreneur who says the custom method of “printing” plant-based meat will be licensed out to manufacturers, giving them a way to create “the texture and taste of steak.”

Scionti also says the Novameat model is meant to cut production costs and make typically high-end meat items, like steak, more affordable.

“Our technology allows plant-based manufacturers to create different textures and use a variety of ingredients,” Scionti says.

Scionti was inspired to start Novameat through researching ways to mimic animal flesh texture using technology.

“While I was researching on regenerating animal tissues through bioprinting technologies for biomedical and veterinary applications, I discovered a way to bio-hack the structure of the native 3D matrix of a variety of plant-based proteins to achieve a meaty texture,” he said in a statement.

Novameat is a Barcelona-based startup that launched last year.

Dan Murphy: Hatin’ on Halal

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:51:06 GMT

A British high school student didn’t get a pass — literally — after writing that halal meat was ‘disgusting’ on a college admissions test. Was she an Islamophobe? No, just a diehard vegan.

It made the papers, as they used to say in the movies, when a vegetarian student in the UK was disqualified because she criticized halal meat on a Religious Studies exam.

According to a story in the UK’s The Telegraph newspaper, Abigail Ward was told by officials administering the exam she was guilty of making “obscene racial comments” after she wrote that she found the idea of halal meat “absolutely disgusting.”

In an article headlined “Race Row,” it was explained that the 16-year-old girl attended school at the Gildredge House in Eastbourne, a town of about 100,000 along the English Channel 75 miles south of London. She wrote the offending comments during a mandatory GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exam in June .

In the UK, colleges prefer secondary school students to earn at least five GCSE certificates. Most college admissions in the UK mandate at least a minimum passing grade on GCSEs in English and Math, so these tests are serious business for British high school students.

According to the newspaper, Ward was told by exam board that she was disqualified “due to obscene racial comments being made throughout an exam paper,” thus committing what was described a “malpractice offense,” The Telegraph reported.

But her disqualification was overturned when the board was informed the student’s distaste for halal meat arose from the fact she is a strict vegetarian. However, Gildredge School officials appealed the decision on the grounds that the student had not made an Islamophobic comment about Muslims but was merely “expressing her distaste for halal butchers.”

The exam board upheld the appeal and apologized for the “upset and stress” they caused and accepted their original interpretation had been inaccurate.

A disturbing element of fear

On one hand, this tale could be characterized as a minor mistake by well-meaning exam administrators.

As the officials who conduct the GCSE exams told The Telegraph in a statement, “[We] take all incidences of suspected offensive material against a religious group in exams very seriously and must apply rules which are set out for all exam boards in such cases.”

Fine, but there are two disturbing elements to this story.

One is that overdosing on political correctness is almost always a bad idea, especially in an academic setting where (supposedly) exposure to a spectrum of ideas, often controversial, has traditionally been considered essential to becoming an educated adult.

That includes even the most radical conceptualization of veganism, the kind that its practitioners insist should be embraced by —imposed on, if necessary — all of humanity.

For our own good, of course.

More disturbing, though is the dark current of Muslim fear and loathing that runs like an underground sewer through this story.

The officials who initially disqualified Ward assumed that her disgust arose from her hatred of Muslims, or at the very least, her fear of the so-called “Islamization” of England.

That says more about their own biases than it does about what the young student believed.

Abigail Ward’s mother, Layla Ward, a 36-year-old nurse, told the newspaper that the initial disqualification was due to an “over-zealous, over-righteous examiner.”

Exactly.

Yet at the same time, there is no reason, dietary or religious, to characterize halal meat as “absolutely disgusting.”

Don’t approve of it, don’t buy it, don’t eat it, if that violates your principles.

But at the end of the day, whether over there or here at home, we all need to dial it down when it comes to expressing our beliefs, no matter how strongly held. The alternative to vitriol is called tolerance, and even its occasional deployment goes a long way toward avoiding incidents like the one that impacted this young student.

Not to mention our own often poisonous political “dialogue.”

The opinions in this commentary are those of Dan Murphy, an award-winning journalist and commentator.

Farmer Claims 'Bad Faith,' Countersues Packer

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:49:09 GMT

A New Hampshire woman who was the target of a lawsuit filed in May, has filed a countersuit against a meat company claiming that she is the victim and not the meat company. Suzanne Chickering’s counterclaim filed in federal court alleges the original suit filed against her is actually a “bad faith” attempt to avoid paying her $127,981.44 for 62 cattle and 37 hogs.

Chickering and her father Arthur Chickering III, were sued by Walden Local, a meat company in North Billerica, Mass., alleging they bribed Jeffrey Nichols, an employee of Vermont Packinghouse (VPH), a slaughterhouse in North Springfield, VT, to falsify weight records of the livestock.

Alleging a conspiracy with Nichols to falsify the records, the suit claims the result was an overpayment of “at least $173,976 to Suzanne Chickering for the meat itself and $49,492 to VPH for the processing of the meat in 2017 and 2018.”

According to a report in the Brattleboro (VT) Reformer , Suzanne Chickering is an eighth-generation farmer who grew up on Chickering Farm in Westmoreland, a farm that has been in the Chickering family since the 1760s.

“Ms. Chickering never bribed any Vermont Packinghouse employee, and is not aware of anyone else doing so allegedly on her behalf,” according to Chickering’s attorney Ritchie Berger. Since 2016, according to Berger, Chickering sold “hundreds of animals each year” to Walden Local, which contracted with Vermont Packinghouse to slaughter, process and deliver the meat.

In the countersuit, Berger wrote “Vermont Packinghouse did not weigh and/or slaughter Ms. Chickering’s animals immediately after receiving them. On one occasion, cattle from two different sellers — one of whom was Ms. Chickering — broke down a gate and mixed together. They were not re-sorted by Vermont Packinghouse before they were slaughtered ...”

Berger also noted that his client received payment from Walden Local “without any indication as to how much the animals she provided for sale to Walden had weighed, or any way to verify the accuracy of the amount Walden paid her for the meat it received from Vermont Packinghouse.”

Attorneys for Chickering’s father, Arthur Chickering III filed a motion for dismissal of the suit against him the same day his daughter filed the countersuit. His attorney said claims of fraud and civil conspiracy are unsupported by the facts laid out in the suit by Walden Local. While Chickering did deliver animals to VPH, the contract was solely between Walden Local and his daughter.

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