• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Trump’s Sweeping Meat Order Is No Quick Fix for Supply Crisis

Trump’s Sweeping Meat Order Is No Quick Fix for Supply Crisis

Meat Supply Crisis
A worker packages trays of ground beef chuck. Photo: Bloomberg.
April 30, 2020
Bloomberg

A day after Donald Trump’s unprecedented executive order to keep meat plants running, one more shut down. Another opened back up — but only to cull animals that can’t be processed. Those are the latest indications that the sweeping order is anything but a quick fix for supply-chain woes.

Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. meat processor, late on Wednesday said it was idling a beef facility in Nebraska for four days, with the news hitting just about 24 hours after Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to keep meat supplies secure. A JBS SA plant in Minnesota is starting a mass culling operation, destroying hogs that it can’t process into pork cuts until it’s able to get the protective equipment needed to restart.

Skepticism abounds over how quickly meat supplies can start flowing again. That was underscored by trading in the livestock markets, with U.S. hog and cattle futures falling on Wednesday on scant signs that huge gluts of animals will start easing soon. Meanwhile, unions and advocacy groups blasted the order, calling it a potential death sentence for workers.

“It will ease a lot the pressure for livestock producers, but we don’t anticipate this completely solving the problem,” said McGuireWoods Consulting Senior Vice President Ryan Bernstein, who also operates a family farm in North Dakota. “There will still be bottlenecks. And farmers are still going to have make difficult choices when it comes to depopulating.”

The U.S. has been thrust into a meat crisis after the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of major plants. While only about a dozen slaughter facilities shuttered, they are massive operations that processed thousands of animals a day. The meat producers have such a stranglehold on output that it’s left the supply chain with few remedies. So farmers are being forced to destroy animals, even as experts warn that protein shortages could hit grocery stores and meat prices surge.

Trump’s executive order was aimed at relieving the situation. He’s mandated the plants stay open, using the Defense Production Act. The government is supposed to provide additional protective gear for employees as well as guidance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it will ask meat processors to submit written plans to safely operate packing plants and review them in consultation with local officials.

But there are plenty of unanswered questions: How quickly can gear and testing be rolled out? How will unions and county authorities focused on containing outbreaks react? How much will stricter distancing measures slow production and when can workers who have fallen ill return? Some answers may come in a White House report that’s being prepared.

Unsurprisingly, meatpackers applauded the administration’s move. But equity investors were circumspect, with shares in heavyweights Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS up less than 1%.

And in the meantime, little has been solved for supplies in the immediate.

Trump’s order is not only aimed at helping farmers find buyers for their animals, but also making sure nervous stay-at-home consumers are supplied with affordable beef and pork.

On Wednesday, wholesale American beef jumped 8% to a record $357.38 per 100 pounds, up 75% from a low in February, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Pork prices gained 2.5% to the highest since 2017.

The order has faced mixed reaction from state and other officials.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said the president’s move is expressing “something we all agree with — that is that we need these organizations to stay in business.”

But there will be hurdles to get businesses back up and running.

“Our goal is to be as cooperative as possible, but we do need to get those workers tested and their families tested,” Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said at a press conference. “And because English isn’t always the first language of the people who are in these situations, we need to make sure things are done appropriately, culturally, and competently. And we have a surge of people working on that right now.”

Even when plants do open back up, it’s unlikely they will be running at full capacity. Workers who are normally jammed elbow-to-elbow on processing lines will need to be spaced out more, and physical barriers will to be added in some places. That will likely slow down line speeds.

In Minnesota, JBS plans to help depopulate about 13,000 hogs until its Worthington plant is back to running normally. Even when processing operations start back up, output will be limited by fewer workers and slower processing lines, according to U.S. Representative Collin Peterson, a Democrat from the state.

“Processing plants were generally in favor of the executive order that would give them liability coverage when reopening,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at INTL FCStone in Kansas City. “Yet, the order still does not solve the problem of employee absenteeism.”

Workers who have fallen ill could likely continue to call in sick. And the virus could spread to healthy employees once plants are opened back up and employees are once again in cramped conditions.

”The president’s executive order will only ensure that more workers get sick, jeopardizing lives, family’s income, communities, and of course, the country’s food supply chain,” Kim Cordova, President of Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 3,000 workers at the JBS SA beef plant in Greeley, Colorado, said in a statement.

“This is not the Middle ages, and workers are not serfs—toiling at the whim of the management lords of the manor,” Cordova said.

It’s also possible that some workers will take action over the divisive executive order.

“Everything is on the table,” said Kooper Caraway, president of the local arm of the AFL-CIO in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The union represents employees at the shuttered Smithfield Foods Inc. pork plant. He declined to comment on specific actions under consideration.

“If the intention is to make sure that the production is not slowed down too much, this is a short-sighted measure that will end up slowing production more than it would have,” Caraway said. “They just don’t have the workforce to operate the plant at full capacity right now. Unless the president is going to use the military to help operate the plant, I really don’t know what he expects the plant to do.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

HR & Labor Management Food & Beverage
KEYWORDS Food & Beverage HR & Labor Management
Bloomberg

Bombardier CEO Sees Blue Skies and Less Debt After Major Overhaul

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • karen-jones.jpg

    Watch: Four Industry Disrupters Impacting Logistics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • THE SPACE AROUND A COMPUTER KEYBOARD IS CLUSTERED WITH IMAGES GENERIC SHIPPING BOXES

    How Suppliers Can Overcome E-Commerce Supply Chain Challenges

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A CSX TRAIN IS SEEN FROM THE FRONT

    CSX’s New CEO Has a Big Idea for Railroads: Carry More Freight

    Rail & Intermodal
  • A ROBOT ARM AND A HUMAN ARM ALMOST TOUCH FINGERS

    AI + SCM: A Formula for Automation and Optimization

    Supply Chain Planning & Optimization
  • A SEATED PERSON HOLDS A SMARTPHONE, SHOPPING

    Retail Consumer Data: The Key to Personalization, or Privacy Violation?

    Regulation & Compliance

Digital Edition

Scb q1 2023 cover

2023 Supply Chain Management Resource Guide: Packing for a Difficult Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Holman Logistics Honeywell Intelligrated
IFM Infor Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Lean Solutions Group 2H Liberty SBF Locus Robotics
Logility LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems
MCA Connect MPO Nvidia
Old Dominion OpenText ORTEC
Overhaul Parsyl PMMI
QIMA Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash
Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG
Ship4WD Shipwell Shyft
Sourcemap Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing