Floods, snow, Coronavirus-related shutdowns, lack of field and processing workers, collapse in commercial demand – you name it, the American farm industry has been kicked in the nuts this year and doesn’t see a way out anytime soon.It’s an even bigger problem for the rest of the globe. Which is having a knock-on effect. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest growers of wheat and has banned exports of wheat flour, as well as putting export restrictions on buckwheat and vegetables including onions, carrots and potatoes. Vietnam, the world’s third biggest rice exporter, has temporarily stopped exporting rice. Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter, is also threatening to restrict exports.
While the USA is usually good at meeting domestic demand, right now farmers across the country are slaughtering hogs and cattle and plowing fruit and vegetables back in to the land. In TEXAS(!) meat sales are being limited in stores. This is terrible news for farmers and catastrophic for the food supply chain going forward.
From the LA Times:
Tyson Foods Inc. on Wednesday said it was idling its largest pork plant, making it at least the sixth major U.S. meat facility to shutter in the last few weeks. Currently, about 15% of hog-slaughtering capacity is completely offline, and there are also additional slowdowns at pork, beef and poultry companies across the nation.
Meat prices are starting to surge on the disruptions. But with slaughterhouses closing, farmers don’t have a market for their animals. That’s causing hog futures to drop, potentially creating a situation where pigs get euthanized and buried as supplies back up. Meanwhile, retail costs may rise as grocery stores mandate rationing on pork chops.
Things are so dire that Iowa, the biggest hog state, activated the National Guard to help protect supplies.
No comments:
Post a Comment