Insights and Stories on Smithfield

As meat plant infections rise, Canada lets packers choose when to close

May. 1, 2020 at 9:48 am CDT

Winnipeg | Reuters — In Cargill’s High River, Alta. plant, supplier of more than one-third of Canada’s beef, 391 workers were sick with COVID-19 when the company suspended operations, according to provincial health officials. But Maple Leaf Foods decided to idle a poultry plant for eight days, in Brampton, Ont., […]

Trump orders U.S. meat processing plants to stay open

Apr. 28, 2020 at 5:40 pm CDT

By Jeff Mason Tom Polansek

Piglets aborted, chickens gassed as pandemic slams meat sector

Apr. 28, 2020 at 3:24 pm CDT

By P.J. Huffstutter Tom Polansek

Smithfield to close Illinois pork facility

Apr. 24, 2020 at 7:35 pm CDT

By Reuters

U.S. livestock: Profit-taking, technical selling pressure hogs, live cattle

Apr. 24, 2020 at 7:21 pm CDT

By Mark Weinraub

COVID-19 forces Tyson to shutter two major U.S. pork plants

Apr. 22, 2020 at 5:05 pm CDT

UPDATED — Reuters — Tyson Foods is shuttering two pork processing plants, including its largest in the United States, to contain the spread of the coronavirus, further tightening meat supplies after other major slaughterhouse shutdowns. The closures are limiting the amount of meat the U.S. can produce during the outbreak […]

By Tom Polansek

U.S. livestock: Lean hog, live cattle futures fall on plant shutdowns

Apr. 22, 2020 at 4:39 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog and live cattle futures eased on Wednesday, with the cash market for the animals weak as processing plants were forced to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, traders said. Tyson Foods will indefinitely suspend operations at its largest U.S. pork plant to contain […]

By Mark Weinraub

Burnett on Markets: Global grain stocks offer false sense of food security

Apr. 17, 2020 at 8:15 pm CDT

The economic parallels from the COVID-19 epidemic are quickly changing from comparisons to the recent financial crisis in 2008-09 to the Great Depression. My parents and grandparents lived through the Depression and it did have many impacts on their everyday lives. The main symbol of the Depression-era mentality was the […]

By Bruce Burnett

U.S. announces coronavirus aid for farmers, food buys for poor

Apr. 17, 2020 at 6:59 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — President Donald Trump on Friday announced a $19 billion relief program to help U.S. farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus, including $16 billion in direct payments to producers and mass purchases of meat, dairy, vegetables and other products (all figures US$). The U.S. Agriculture […]

By Karl Plume P.J. Huffstutter

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rebound to one-week high

Apr. 16, 2020 at 7:43 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live and feeder cattle futures jumped to one-week highs on Thursday as the markets extended rebounds after diving recently on concerns about the new coronavirus backing up livestock on farms. Hog futures remained under pressure from disruptions caused by the virus, which has shut pork […]