Beef processors are closing U.S. plants, warn of beef shortages and hoarding

Beef processing plant in Iowa
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

"The American food supply is strong, resilient, and safe," Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue assured Americans on Wednesday, "and in fact our food supply chain has shown tremendous agility in shifting production and logistics so suddenly from restaurant and institutional settings to retail settings" during the COVID-19 pandemic. There may be empty shelves now, he said, but "in the United States, we have plenty of food for all of our citizens."

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"The first problem is we don't have enough people to process the animals, and No. 2 is they can't do carcass balance because restaurants are down," says John Bormann at JBS, the U.S. subsidiary of the world's largest fresh beef and pork processor. "What's selling? Freaking hamburger." Restaurants usually buy the expensive cuts, like strips, sirloin, ribs.

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The misalignment is affecting all farmers. Dairy Farmers of America says its members are dumping out 3.7 million gallons of milk a day, and the farmers say they can't donate it to food banks because dairy processing plants are closing down due to lack of demand or to protect their workers.

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At the same time, the conglomeration of agriculture means a small number of multinationals "have proprietary information about how much food is out there that no one else has," Ben Lilliston at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy tells the Post. "In early March, there were a whole lot of stories about a surplus of meat. If they say it's a shortage, maybe it is, but no one really knows.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.