Stay Informed

As livestock producers know all too well, one of the major side effects of the efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 has been the disruption of America’s food production system – particularly at livestock processing facilities.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, more than two dozen livestock processing plants have closed down in the past two months due to issues with COVID-19, and these closures have ranged in length from a few days to two weeks or even indefinitely, said AFBF economist Michael Nepveux, writing in Market Intel, the organization’s market news service.

“Weekly total cattle slaughter has decreased by 38% since its March high and 34% from the previous year,” Nepveux said in his May 7 report. “Weekly hog slaughter has dropped 45% from its earlier high and 35% from 2019.”

Indiana producers have experienced closures, too, said Greg Slipher, INFB livestock development specialist. As of mid-May, all of the major packing plants serving the state had reopened, though at diminished capacity. One plant might have cut down to two shifts, and another might have cut down to just one, but they were all operating, Slipher explained.

“We’re crawling back into production for sure,” he said.

In an effort to keep INFB members informed about the COVID-19 situation and how it is impacting agriculture, INFB President Kron is hosting weekly conference calls, often featuring an expert from AFBF, Purdue University or the livestock industry. A recording of each call is posted on INFB’s website in the “For Volunteers” section. You'll need to log into your INFB account to access the recordings.

Even before the pandemic, Slipher and his colleagues on the Indiana Livestock Team, which in addition to INFB has representatives from the pork, beef and poultry industries, met weekly in person, over the phone or online in order to keep up with what’s going on in the livestock industry. Every other week, there also is a conference call organized by the Indiana Board of Animal Health, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor. Those meetings have become even more important as the situation has become more volatile.

Most of these meetings occur over the phone or the internet these days, Slipher said, but there are exceptions.

“We recently met in the corner of a field for an hour-and-half,” he said. “We’re fortunate that we can get outside and, keeping our social distance, have those discussions if we need to.”

Aside from diminished productivity, another issue, Slipher said, is that even before COVID-19 hit, there was a lot of surplus pork in this country.

“We’re in the process of working through that backlog,” he explained.

Another ag sector that has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 is ethanol. AFBF economist Shelby Myers wrote in a May 8 Market Intel report that ethanol production has nearly ground to a halt as COVID-19 precautions, coupled with stay-at-home orders, have slashed fuel consumption and with it, ethanol use. As of the end of April 2020, ethanol production was 42% lower compared to the same week in 2019.