ANALYSIS: Cash Hog Prices Decline from Summer Peak But Remain Well Above Year Ago Levels

The summer peak for negotiated cash hog prices on a national basis was achieved on June 22 at $128.04/cwt. Since peaking, spot prices have since declined by around...

Tyson Fresh Meats Leader Testifies About Beef Industry at Senate Hearing

Shane Miller, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork unit of Tyson Foods, testified about the beef industry during a hearing held today by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Below is Miller’s written testimony:

Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Grassley, members of the Judiciary Committee, thank you for inviting me here today.

I proudly represent Tyson Foods, a company based in Springdale, Arkansas, and founded nearly a century ago by John W. Tyson, who started this business trucking chickens to markets across the Midwest...

NCBA-Won Funds Going Toward USDA Grants for Small, Independent Processors

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the creation of two new, competitive grant funding opportunities for small, regional, and independent meat processors using funds the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) worked to secure at the end of last year. After fighting hard for several key priorities for cattle producers in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, NCBA praised USDA for putting $55.2 million of those funds toward the critical need for greater beef processing capacity.

The competitive grant funding will be available through the new Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant (MPIRG) program. The funds will support small beef processing facilities making the improvements necessary to...

UFCW Sioux Falls Union Votes to Authorize Strike Against Smithfield

The Sioux Falls chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers union has authorized a strike at the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in South Dakota. The union met with company representatives Tuesday and said they hope to avoid a work stoppage.

The union is demanding that Smithfield increases its wages. UFCW Local 304A President B.J. Motley explained "We feel that during a pandemic year and after calling Smithfield workers heroes for coming to work on a daily basis to feed America, they haven't shown that appreciation at all during negotiations."

No deadline has been set yet for when a strike could happen. Hog slaughter operations are expected to...

ANALYSIS: Cattle and Hog Producers Weather Another Black Swan Event

In what was yet another black swan event, the cyberattack on JBS last week exemplified the severe impacts that extraordinary incidents can have on...

FBI Attributes JBS Cyberattack to Russia-Linked Cyber Criminal REvil

JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company, is returning to normalized operations following a cyberattack over the weekend that affected its North American and Australian servers. 

On Tuesday evening, JBS released a press statement saying it had made “significant progress” in resolving the cyberattack and expected the “vast majority” of its plants to be operating on Wednesday. 

JBS is also a majority shareholder of Pilgrim’s Pride, a leading chicken producer. Pilgrim’s has operations in 14 U.S. states and can process...

Statement from the USDA on JBS USA Ransomware Attack

As noted earlier by the White House, USDA is aware of the ransomware attack against JBS, which is affecting the company’s operations, including its facilities in the United States. USDA continues to work closely with the White House, Department of Homeland Security, JBS USA and others to monitor this situation closely and offer help and assistance to mitigate any potential supply or price issues. As part of that effort, USDA has reached out to several major meat processors in the United States to ensure they are aware of the situation, encouraging them to...

NCBA Pushes Congress to Address Areas of Concern in the Cattle Industry

the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) led a letter with the support of 37 affiliate state cattle organizations, urging the leadership of the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committees to address critical areas of concern in the cattle and beef industry.

Specifically, NCBA pushed Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Rep. David Scott (D-GA-13), and Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA-15) to consider swift Congressional action to...

Update: Some U.S. JBS Operations U.S. Affected by Cyberattack Today

JBS announced that they experienced a cyberattack over the weekend, forcing some shifts at its U.S. locations to be reduced or canceled altogether today. Industry sources report that JBS will not be operating any of its U.S. cattle plants today. This is expected to trim the day’s cattle slaughter by around 28,000 head from normal. 

On the hog side, three of JBS’s U.S. hog plants are said to be down today, while two are operating at reduced capacity. While it is difficult to gauge what today’s hog slaughter could be, the common consensus is in the area of 400,000 head or potentially less. Analysts note that this Saturday’s cattle and hog slaughter could be very large to make up for the downtime...

The duration and extent of processing plant disruptions at JBS's facilities due to the cyberattack is not yet known and will be monitored day-to-day. Adequate processing capacity for the current level of supply is already an issue for the livestock industry, especially on the cattle side.

Fourth UK Beef Processing Site Gains Access to US Market

A fourth processing site in the UK has won approval to export its beef to the US – marking a major leap forward for the business and for the red meat sector as a whole.

Foyle Food Group in Gloucester is now listed on the official ‘USDA Approved’ list, which means commercial exports of beef can commence with immediate effect.

It comes after extensive work by the company with support from AHDB, Defra, the Food Standards Agency and...

Major Cyber Attack Impacts JBS' Global Operations

On Sunday, May 30, JBS USA announced that it was the target of a cyberattack. According to a media statement, “the company took immediate action, suspending all affected systems, notifying authorities and activating the company's global network of IT professionals and third-party experts to resolve the situation. The company’s backup servers were not affected, and it is actively working with an Incident Response firm to restore its systems as soon as possible.”

JBS media contact Nikki Richardson explained that a solution will take time and that transactions with customers and suppliers could be delayed. 

JBS Foods is the world’s largest beef and poultry producer and the second-largest global pork producer. The company has locations in the United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Europe, and New Zealand...

ANALYSIS: Pandemic-Related Issues Continue to Affect Slaughter Levels 

Pandemic-related issues including labor availability continue to affect cattle and hog processing levels more than a year after...

ANALYSIS: Chicken Rearing to Go

For the second month this year, broiler type pullet placements have advanced considerably above 2020 levels...

ANALYSIS: Turkey Cold Storage: Lending Credence to the Strong Market Climate

The latest release of February’s Cold Storage Report further validates the strong seasonal performance that most key lines within the turkey complex have exhibited...

Key Takeaways From COVID-19 and the Supply Chain

The pandemic has far-reaching effects throughout the entire supply chain. From processing plant disruptions to shifts in consumer behavior, industry participants are learning how to improve efficiency and reconfigure the workplace.   

During a virtual panel sponsored by Kayem Foods, Inc titled ‘COVID and the Supply Chain: Farm to Distribution’, a group of experts including producer and packer representatives discussed their key learnings for both live animal production and meat processing. 

Panelists included Brad Freking, New Fashion Pork; Colin Woodall, CEO, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; and KatieRose McCullough, Director, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, North American Meat Institute. 

McCullough began the panel by reviewing the drastic effects that COVID-19 had on the nation's meat and poultry processing plants. In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a national emergency. The ability to process cattle and hogs in...

REPORTER: Industry Veterans Come Together to Open Colorado Lamb Processors

This article was originally featured in the Spring 2021 Edition of Urner Barry's Reporter magazine.

As Easter and Passover approach, one cannot help but to think about lamb when planning a holiday meal. This year, there’s a good chance you could be eating lamb that has passed through the country’s newest lamb harvesting facility—Colorado Lamb Processors in Brush, Colorado.

Colorado Lamb Processors, which opened in September 2020, is the first new lamb processing facility to be built in the...

ANALYSIS: Frozen Tom Breast Meat Values Buck Seasonal Norm

It isn't every year that the topic of frozen tom breast meat catches the eye of market participants this early in the "season"...

Yum China has Acquired a 5% Equity Interest in Fujian Sunner Development

Yum China Holdings, Inc. announced that it has acquired a 5% equity interest in Fujian Sunner Development Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in the Fujian Province, Sunner is China's largest white- feathered chicken producer. Sunner has a vertically integrated business model covering the full production chain, which primarily includes chicken breeding and farming, feed processing and meat processing.

"We are excited to become a strategic investor in Sunner, our largest poultry supplier. Yum China and Sunner are longstanding business partners. The management team of Sunner has demonstrated exceptional execution capabilities over the years," said Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China. "With this strategic investment, we look forward to...

National Beef Begins Employee Vaccination in Kansas, Following Governor Kelly’s Announcement

More than 6,000 National Beef employees in Dodge City, Kansas, and Liberal, Kansas, are now eligible and have started receiving COVID-19 vaccinations, following an announcement that prioritizes meat processing workers for vaccine distribution in Kansas.

Governor Laura Kelly; Tim Klein, CEO of National Beef; UFCW Local 2 and other leadership groups in Kansas outlined a plan where Kansas meat processing employees and counties with meat processing plants will receive vaccine doses, earmarked explicitly for them.

"National Beef is grateful to all the partners who have helped provide vaccines for the meat processing industry's essential workers. We especially appreciate the state of Kansas, local health departments, and...

US Beef Demand: The Risk of Recovery

The optimistic anticipation of a post-pandemic world continues to intensify with the ongoing distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. From a beef industry perspective, virus control will relieve much of the current strain on the processing and distribution sectors.

Throughout the next several years, innovations accelerated by Covid-19 will go live, as well as technological advancements across the supply chain. Simultaneously, tighter cattle supplies from a declining beef cow herd will...

Perdue Farms Provides COVID-19 Vaccines to Associates at Virginia Plant

Perdue Farms associates received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health. Eligible associates at Perdue’s Accomac, Va., operations received the vaccine, marking the beginning of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution to its associates across the U.S.

The voluntary vaccines were administered free-of-charge to associates at the plant’s onsite Wellness Center. Perdue operates onsite Wellness Centers at its processing facilities, which are staffed by local healthcare providers and available free-of-charge to associates and their families. As more vaccines become available...

Cargill Expands Value-Added Protein Footprint Through Acquisition of ProPortion Foods

Cargill, the global food, agricultural, financial and industrial products company, announced the expansion of its value-added protein footprint through the acquisition of ProPortion Foods, a food manufacturer that supplies a variety of innovative fully cooked products, portion control steaks and marinated ready-to-grill meats.

Through the purchase, which closed in December 2020, Cargill gains two further-processed protein plants in Round Rock, Texas and Vernon, California. The Round Rock and Vernon facilities will deliver a variety of quality, fully cooked protein products for Cargill’s...

Cargill Announces Temporary Idling of Two Beef Processing Facilities for Scheduled Maintenance

Cargill announced the planned, temporary idling of two protein processing facilities for scheduled maintenance. Each facility’s idling is unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On February 4, Cargill will idle its Dodge City, Kansas location and on March 18, the company will idle its Schuyler, Nebraska facility. Both sites are primary processing operations and will be down for approximately...

Meat and Poultry Industry Reacts to COVID-19 Stimulus Package 

The COVID-19 stimulus bill agreed upon by Congress contains language that would authorize the USDA to provide up to $1 billion in assistance to contract chicken growers for revenue losses sustained because of the pandemic. According to the bill, the fund is specifically for contract growers of livestock and poultry to cover up to 80% of revenue losses.

Mike Brown, President of the National Chicken Council, said, "On behalf of the chicken industry and our farm families across the country, I want to personally thank Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) for his leadership and his support in helping to secure this vital funding...

ANALYSIS: Chiming In on Chicken Leg Quarters

Those with exposure to chicken back half items are no stranger to this year’s uninspiring and highly volatile trade environment...

After Healthcare Workers, Essential Meat and Poultry Workers High Priority for COVID Vaccine

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) urged federal authorities to highly prioritize COVID-19 vaccination for the men and women who work in the meat and poultry industry, following healthcare workers and those in long term care facilities.

Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts commented:

"The men and women of the meat and poultry industry help keep America’s grocery stores stocked and our farm economy working. They should be...

Changed Beef Consumption Habits Following COVID-19 Create Opportunities

The global Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever (ASF) have changed beef consumption patterns through 2020. While total beef consumption has not seen too much change, we have seen distribution channels change, benefiting some at the expense of others. As the impacts of ASF are overcome and disruptions from Covid-19 subside, old distribution channels will recover.

“It is likely that many consumers will revert to their previous habits, but we do see opportunities for...

ANALYSIS: Cash Cattle Prices Could See Pressure in Q1

Boxed beef prices appear to be seasonally topping after staging an impressive rally throughout November. Although some primals continue to be...

Tyson Foods Issues Statement on Waterloo Lawsuit Allegations

Tyson Foods, Inc. issued the following statement from Tyson Foods President & CEO Dean Banks in response to allegations made in an amended lawsuit involving the company’s pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa:

“We are extremely upset about the accusations involving some of the leadership at our Waterloo plant. Tyson Foods is a family company with 139,000 team members and these allegations do not represent who we are, or our Core Values and Team Behaviors. We expect every team member at Tyson Foods to operate with...

Agrotop to Build Georgia's Largest Food Processing Plant for Chirina

Agrotop, a leading global player in the poultry and livestock industry, will build a new state-of-the-art meat processing plant for Chirina, Georgia's largest food-producing company.

The completed ready-to-eat (RTE) food processing plant is expected to begin production within a year and generate 8–10 tons of chicken products per day. The factory, which will be Georgia's largest, will produce sliced meats, sausages and cold cuts.

The new production facility will be built in a modular way, enabling...

ANALYSIS: Whole Body Hens: Looking Beyond the Holiday

With turkey processors aggressively attempting to fulfill existing orders and wondering how they might be able to satisfy anticipated fill-in demand...