Seabord experiences one employee has COVID-19

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Seabord experiences one employee has COVID-19

April 17, 2020 By Julie Harker Filed Below: 2020 Occasions, COVID-19, Information

Seaboard Meals says it’s had
one employee confirmed with COVID19 – at its Sioux Metropolis, Iowa pork plant.

“We want it was zero however really feel
very lucky that, at this level, it’s just one,” says Kevin Smith,
Seaboard’s vice chairman of gross sales and advertising, who was on the Kansas Metropolis
AgriBusiness Council on-line occasion Thursday.

Smith says Seaboard is creating
as a lot area between staff on the manufacturing line as they will, “Manufacturing
services aren’t the best locations to create distance however we’re attempting to
enhance issues each single day.”

Smith says they're taking
precautions in any respect of their vegetation, “We’ve carried out temperature checks at
all of our services. We’ve made facemasks obtainable in addition to necessary
inside all of our services. We’ve opened up some areas exterior our services
to principally increase the areas the place folks can have lunch or devour meals.”

Seaboard operates three pork
processing vegetation, in Oklahoma, Iowa and Missouri.

Lawmakers urge USDA to purchase pork, give monetary support

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Lawmakers urge USDA to purchase pork, give monetary support

April 17, 2020 By Julie Harker Filed Below: 2020 Occasions, COVID-19, Information

A gaggle of U.S. Senators and Representatives is urging Ag Secretary Perdue to have USDA make pork purchases and provides monetary support to the pork trade as COVID-19 circumstances escalate and extra meat processing vegetation shut or shut down. They’re additionally asking NRCS to supply monetary and technical help to pork producers by the EQIP program, if wanted.

They are saying it’s critically
vital to take care of the pork provide chain.

Perdue reportedly is engaged on a plan to deal with meals provide chain disruptions. The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) says vegetation are taking measures to cut back the unfold of COVID-19 together with temperature checks of employees, private protecting tools and social distancing whereas sustaining strict sanitation measures. NAMI President Julie Anna Potts was not conscious of the extent of testing being carried out for employees.

Senators who signed letter: Hawley, Blunt, Ernst, Fischer,Grassley, Thune, Klobuchar, Rounds, Sasse, Johnson, Axne.

U.S. Reps:  Dusty Johnson, Cindy Axne, Don Bacon, Emanuel
Cleaver, Angie Craig, Tom Emmer, Abby Finkenauer, Jeff Fortenberry, Sam Graves,
Jim Hagedorn, Vicky Hartzler, Dave Loebsack, Billy Lengthy, Blaine Luetkemeyer,
Collin Peterson, Adrian Smith, Jason Smith, Pete Stauber, Ann Wagner.

Tags: Blunt, CARES act, Congress, covid19, EQIP, Hartzler, Hawley, Home of Representatives, NRCS, pork, pork trade, pork producers, Senate, stimulus, USDA

Brown: Native farmers want reduction

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Brown: Native farmers want reduction

A bipartisan group of senators are asking Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to make sure that a portion of the $9.5 billion secured within the coronavirus reduction invoice goes to native farmers.

Ohio Senator
Sherrod Brown says they need to ensure farmers who promote direct to customers,
colleges, farmers markets, and eating places get help.

“We expect that’s vital that with the declining market they get the form of help they want,” he says.

The senators are
additionally asking USDA to manage direct funds by way of the Farm Service Company
is response to the native meals business’s projected $1.1 billion loss.

“Farmers markets and direct gross sales are at all times a challenge- market circumstances change, climate modifications, individuals’s shopping for habits will be everywhere generally and we need to ensure that they climate this storm and that farmers can with some confidence know that what they’re rising will be bought,” he says.

The senators are
asking that with the intention to be eligible for a direct cost, native meals producer
ought to derive at the least 25 % of whole farm revenue from gross sales which can be
domestically bought.

Along with Brown, the senators signing on to the letter embrace: Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan; Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois; Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

Tags: Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue, customers, coronavirus, Coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, covid19, farmers, Farmers Markets, Meals Hubs, native, Native farmers, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Eating places, colleges, Sherrod Brown

USDA lowers manufacturing and commerce forecasts for meat

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USDA lowers manufacturing and commerce forecasts for meat

April 16, 2020 By Julie Harker Filed Underneath: COVID-19, Information

The USDA has pulled again its forecasts for many U.S. meat manufacturing and commerce.

World Ag Outlook
board chairman Mark Jekanowski explains why they’ve diminished the meat manufacturing
forecast, “Primarily primarily based on decrease steer and heifer slaughter and given the very
low costs for cattle not too long ago that additionally means that producers is likely to be holding
some cattle again from advertising.”

The USDA’s pork
manufacturing numbers have elevated somewhat however broiler manufacturing has been
pulled again this month. Jekanowski says the collapse in demand from COVID-29 is
affecting costs, in comparison with final month and final 12 months, “These costs are down
fairly a bit, 12 months over 12 months, for those who have a look at 2020 in comparison with 2019. And that’s
the identical for broilers, steers and hogs.”

And, he says, the
USDA’s meat commerce forecast for the key classes of beef, pork, broilers and
turkey have been dialed again, “Reflecting softening world financial outlook and
that’s simply exhibiting up in diminished export demand for our meat merchandise.”

Tags: ag commerce, beef, broilers, cattle, coronavirus, covid19, Mark Jekanowski, pork, Costs, manufacturing, Turkey, USDA

NAMI says neighborhood measures essential to gradual the unfold

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NAMI says neighborhood measures essential to gradual the unfold

April 16, 2020 By Julie Harker Filed Underneath: COVID-19, Information

The president of the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) says the rise in COVID-19 circumstances at meat crops, inflicting slowdowns and closures, displays what is occurring in communities. Julie Anna Potts says locations like Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the place there isn't a statewide stay-at-home order are experiencing an explosion of circumstances, together with greater than 500 on the Smithfield plant there.

“So, if social distancing orders may be strictly enforced or
in all of our communities, you already know, it takes all of us doing our half – THAT’s
what must occur.”

Potts says there may be additionally extra testing occurring in these
locations the place a rising variety of COVID-19 circumstances are displaying up in meat crops.
Lots of employees at meat crops stay in tight quarters.

She factors out there are various meat crops with NO COVID circumstances that proceed to function and strict security and prevention measures are in place throughout the board.

Tags: beef, coronavirus, covid19, Governor Kristi Noem, JBS, Julie Anna Potts, meat crops, NAMI, North American Meat Institute, pork, Poultry, Smithfield, social distancing, South Dakota, testing