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How the COVID-19 has exposed some of the ’s vulnerabilities.

by Peter Thomas Ricci, managing editor

he numbers are stark: As of estimating that losses could reach But even amidst those varied late April, at least 80 meat $13.6 billion. Those groups say the efforts, the scope of COVID-19 is processing plants had re- Trump administration’s $19 billion overwhelming: In the first two weeks Tported workers who tested positive bailout will help, but it won’t be of April, there were 1.14 million new for the COVID-19 virus; 20 plants enough to stop the bleeding. diagnoses of the virus, with 37% of had ceased operations, sidelining By the time this issue of Meating- them in the ; as of late more than 24,000 workers; millions place lands on your desk, the situation April, there were 1.8 million cases of chickens had been culled; and may well have changed for the better. worldwide, with 41.7% of those in closures by Smithfield , Tyson Ninety-five percent of Americans the U.S.; and since the start of the Foods, JBS and others had eliminat- were under stay-at-home orders, outbreak, there have been nearly ed roughly 25% of and 10% of which was contributing to a 200,000 deaths, including more processing capacity, spurring decline in new COVID-19 cases. than 52,000 in the U.S. Accord- more plant closures and creating Meat processors were imple- ing to Virginia Pitzer of the Yale crushing bottlenecks on hog and cat- menting preventive measures, School of Medicine, periodic tle . Hog , the National such as taking employee tem- To view a map of social distancing measures Pork Producers Council (NPPC) peratures, installing protective all meat plants may have to continue until a said, stood to lose $5 billion in 2020. partitions between workers, and affected by COVID-19 is developed For the industry, the outlook deep cleaning plants. Addition- COVID-19, click and mass produced, which will was even worse, with the Nation- ally, companies were boosting here: meatm. happen — at the earliest — in

Photo by Reuters al Cattlemen’s Beef Association pay and offering bonuses. ag/mcovid19 spring 2021.

UNMASKEDmeatingplace.com May 2020 27 theISSUES

A bus stop sits empty outside of Smithfield’s Sioux City, S.D., pork plant after a COVID-19 outbreak forced its closure in April. Getty Images

OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS NOT PREPARED FOR COVID-19 BECAUSE OF THE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE ON PREVENTION.

Despite the enormity of COVID-19, touch those surfaces — and then touch are not powerless in the face of COVID-19. and its considerable uncertainty, the their eyes, nose, or mouth before washing Explains Dr. Thomas E. Elam, the presi- virus has revealed some certainties. their hands — they can then be infected dent of industry consultancy FarmEcon Among them are these: One, the virus themselves. Furthermore, one can con- LLC, processors have numerous options has destabilized the nation’s meat indus- tract the virus if they inhale droplets from for combatting the virus’ spread. Some, try to an unprecedented degree; and two, a person who coughs or exhales. like checking temperatures and using such a disruption provides the industry Essentially, COVID-19’s transmission masks, already are used in many plants. with the opportunity to examine its is dependent on close proximity and Elam says, however, that those mea- vulnerabilities and to fix them. physical contact. Packing industry vet- sures are inadequate by themselves. To This begins with the critical juncture erans, like Mike Callicrate, the owner of fully protect workers and maintain plant of meat processing and healthcare, and Callicrate Cattle Co. in St. Francis, Kan., productivity, weekly testing for both the considers the pitfalls of the industry’s say that makes modern meat plants ideal virus and antibodies is necessary, but own structure. spaces for the virus’ spread. that is where processors run headfirst “How do we social distance in a plant into a wall: the U.S. healthcare system. ‘YOU CAN’T BELIEVE HOW EASY THIS IS’ designed to have 4,000 workers shoul- “We don’t really have the capacity According to the World Health Organiza- der-to-shoulder, producing 400 to do that right now,” Elam says. “You tion, COVID-19 is an infectious per hour? It doesn’t work,” Callicrate says. have to be exhibiting symptoms today that is primarily transmitted when an in- “COVID is here saying, ‘I’ve got people before a public health agency will test fected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. who love to get together in close proximi- you ... routine testing of people who are Those actions generate droplets, which ty. I’ve got big . I’ve got big otherwise well is not happening, because are too heavy for the air and fall onto processing plants.’ COVID is saying, ‘You we don’t have the capacity to process that floors or surfaces within one meter of the can’t believe how easy this is.’” many samples. There are hundreds of infected person. Should someone then Meat and processors, however, thousands of workers in all these meat

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production plants. Trying to do that on a weekly basis would swamp the system.” That shortcoming comes as no surprise to William Hsiao, the K.T. Li Research Professor of at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who has played key roles in designing healthcare systems from Taiwan to South Africa. The U.S. system, he says, is especially ill-pre- pared for the COVID-19 pandemic. “The United States has a fragmented healthcare system with many parts that don’t work together — that particularly shows in prevention as well as continuity

of healthcare,” Hsiao says. “Our healthcare Employees at Tyson’s system is not prepared for COVID-19 be- Camilla, Ga., plant work cause of the governance structure on pre- between plastic partitions to prevent the spread of vention. We have a decentralized system in COVID-19.

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town may have some function on preven- where the vulnerable link is the labor tion. [The Centers for Disease Control side, which could affect multiple plants and Prevention] is a central government simultaneously,” says Peel, who teaches function, but they don’t have offices [in] YOU CAN KEEP agricultural economics at Oklahoma State every city and town. They have to get the . “Most of these kinds of things cooperation of the local governments.” FEEDING THEM, that have happened have been things like So the kind of weekly testing for which plant fires, and that’s pretty targeted.” Elam advocates is, by Hsiao’s diagnosis, OBVIOUSLY. THE Furthermore, Peel says the pandemic is not possible in the U.S.’ patchwork of TROUBLE IS, placing a spotlight on the sprawling geog- healthcare systems. Hsiao believes the raphy of farms and processing plants. situation would be different if the U.S. had ECONOMICALLY, “We’re spread all over the country,” Peel a functioning universal healthcare system. says of the cattle sector. “So, in some of those CAN YOU areas ... there may or may not be a feasible ‘WE’VE NEVER HAD A SITUATION LIKE THIS’ way to shift that production somewhere The plant closures and labor shortages AFFORD TO else. So, it can be devastating, in that there is that have resulted from COVID-19 have, DO THAT? simply no place [for a producer] to go.” for economist Derrell Peel, created histor- Past disruptions, Peel says, have been ic challenges for the U.S. . handled internally. For instance, in Au- “We’ve never had a situation like this, gust 2019, when Tyson Foods’ Holcomb,

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Kan., beef plant sustained severe damage, had declined to well under breakeven Tyson was able to shift that production prices. “You can keep feeding them, obvi- to its other plants, among the density ously. You can change the ration and you of beef packing plants in Kansas. That can feed them for a long time. The trouble luxury, though, may not be available to is, economically, can you afford to do that?” plants in less clustered areas, and if beef That would be a resounding “no” for hog and pork farmers are unable to shift their farmers. According to NPPC, the multiple animals to other plants, that can cause pork plants closures in the Midwest creat- considerable problems for their bottom ed such a backup in pork supply chains lines. Market analyst John Nalivka, the that farmers were considering euthan- president/owner of Sterling atizing their to control costs. In the Inc., says those issues are particularly short term, poultry processors have even apparent in feedlots. less wiggle room. As market expert Elam A drive-up COVID-19 “The closer you are to when that steer is notes, are genetically bred to have testing station ready to be marketed, the higher the cost short lifespans, providing a tight window in Worthington, is to be feeding him,” Nalivka says, noting between maturation and slaughter. If Minn., near JBS in mid-April that feeders were caught plants are unable to process birds, then and Smithfield plants. having to shell out more money while they will be forced to cull and compost the

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Harim Foods at its Millsboro, Del. plant, professor of agricultural economics at sumers; however, they have now created where the workforce was down 50%. the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the uniquely dangerous spaces for workers. The company’s culling was estimated to COVID-19 crisis provides a necessary Azzam believes the situation demands a involve as many as 2 million birds. lens for examining how the U.S. reevaluation of how “cost” is understood And shifting birds to other plants, Elam system operates. in the meat industry. says, is neither a long-term solution, nor is An expert on local food economies and “We’re going to have to think about the it an option for all processors. industrial , Azzam has stud- social costs of consolidation, particularly “You can do that sporadically, but you ied the mass consolidation that occurred when it comes to issues of and can’t depend on it,” he says. “It depends on in the meat industry in the ‘70s, ‘80s worker safety,” he says. how many plants are affected, how fast, and ‘90s. He says that although his Because ultimately, Azzam adds, and whether or not they have neighbors earlier concerns on consolidation the pandemic has brought about that are willing to pick up slack. If it focused on food safety, he is now market conditions he has never happens in , where you’ve got considering worker safety, and how To read more of seen before in the U.S.: “I have never basically one producer [in Foster Farms], safe workers can truly be in large, Meatingplace’s seen empty shelves until this time, you’ve got a bigger problem than in Geor- modern processing plants. COVID-19 this period,” he explains. “And I gia, Alabama or Mississippi.” Consolidation and massive coverage, really have never thought about the plants, Azzam says, did lead to click here: essentiality of food. You take it for ‘THE SOCIAL COSTS OF CONSOLIDATION’ greater production efficiencies and, meatm.ag/ granted. Now, we are getting into a For Azzeddine Azzam, the Roy Frederick by extension, lower costs for con- covid19news situation where it’s unsettling.”

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