Pork producers in the region continue to face additional plant closures tied to COVID-19. The latest casualty is the JBS pork plant in Worthington, Minnesota which has suspended operations indefinitely. Minnesota Pork Producers Association CEO Dave Preisler says this adds insult to injury as it processes 20,000 pigs per day plant just like the Smithfield facility in Sioux Falls.
He says when you add these two plants to the others that are offline, the the nation’s pork processing industry is in crisis.
Preisler says some pork producers unable to find processing space for their hogs are attempting to slow growth through management and nutritional changes but unfortunately will soon have to euthanize some stock.
Preisler says the $1.6 billion of direct aid for pork producers announced by USDA won’t even make a dent in the loss’s producers are now seeing. The initial aid package was passed before the processing industry was hit with these unprecedented closures.
