Down on the farm, coronavirus is having ripple effects on meat processing

Posted on December 7, 2020
Liz Rupel, policy organizer, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, says there remains a kink in the supply chain – from farm to fork. (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Remember the pork plant crisis earlier this year?

Coronavirus is still creating problems in the farm-to-fork food chain. Liz Rupel, a policy organizer with the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, says the business which had been going to bigger processors is now swamping the smaller ones.

“There is a bottleneck in the small plant world at processors,” Rupel says. “There is a lack of hanging space. Farmers are waiting months – even into 2021 and 2022 – to get a date to get their animals processed.”

That means the animals are getting bigger, there are more of them, and there’s less space for new ones. 

“On a normal processing day,” Rupel continues, farmers “might be able to get in monthly with perhaps ten hogs and a couple head of cattle. Now they’re down to only bringing in two hogs, which they cant sustain on those really thin margins.”

Plus: the animals still eat.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]. 

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