Sep. 02, 2024
Posted by IndustrySelect on Wednesday, July 20,
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Meatpacking plants fall under the agricultural sector in the U.S. economy. Agricultural, food and related industries contributed more than $1 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in . The food manufacturing portion accounted for 2 million jobs, with meat and poultry manufacturing comprising about 1/3 of these positions. A powerful subsector, the meatpacking industry employs hundreds of thousands and has posted strong growth in the past year, making it a top industry to do business with. This article will explore the key facts and statistics on the industry and examine some of the largest meatpacking companies in the United States.
According to data collected by MNI, as of July , the U.S. meatpacking industry accounts for 2,276 companies nationwide, employing 204,306 individuals. Employment in the sector has grown by a half percent over the past year.
The most recent sales figures reported to MNI in meatpacking total $150 billion, up 2.1% over the past year. 90% of the finished product in meatpacking is distributed domestically. Manufacturing as the whole relies on only 70% of domestic distribution.
Regionally, the Midwest holds the highest concentration of meatpacking manufacturers, at 45% of the total. The Southern region follows at a distant second with 28% of the total number of meatpacking manufacturers. The Northeast and the West trail with 11% and 16% respectively.
MNI also reports that 5% of meatpacking facilities are publicly-owned, while another one percent are women-owned companies.
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Below is a list of the largest U.S. meatpacking facilities based on number of employees.
CompanyCityState Number of EmployeesSmithfield Foods, Inc.Tar HeelNC5,000Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.AmarilloTX4,200Tyson Fresh MeatsAmarilloTX4,000Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.Dakota CityNE4,000Cargill, Inc.WayzataMN3,500JBSGrand IslandNE3,500JBSCactusTX3,450JBS USAGreeleyCO3,200Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.HolcombKS3,100National Beef Packing Co., LLCDodge CityKS3,000Smithfield Foods, Inc., located in Tar Heel, North Carolina, safely employs 5,000 individuals. The company&#;s aggressive COVID-19 response revolves around keeping their employees safe and securing America&#;s food supply chain. Smithfield&#;s commitment to its employees involves recognizing the efforts of one man who received an award for his supply chain initiatives that enabled the company to benefit operationally, economically and sustainably.
Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. calls Amarillo, Texas home. The company&#;s 4,200 employees continue to uphold the core values developed by its founder during the Great Depression &#; to provide a quality, 100% natural product. Pioneers of poultry supply chain management since the s, Tyson continues the tradition with the Tyson Discovery Center. Here, the company anticipates food trends, creating products to meet customers' culinary needs.
Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. in Dakota City, Nebraska employs 4,000 individuals to prepare various packaged products such as fresh chicken, pre-seasoned chicken, meal kits and a number of frozen chicken products.
Cargill, Inc. lists its primary mission as the health and safety of its 3,500 employees and the customers they serve during the COVID-19 pandemic. Partnering with global health experts, Cargill continually upgrades its Wayzata, Minnesota facility to protect its employees and the community at large, including a disaster relief fund to help employees adversely impacted by the pandemic.
JBS in Grand Island, Nebraska and its 3,500 workers produce ® and Swift® beef products for domestic use and export to Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, China and other countries. True to JBS&#;s community commitment, associates are involved in the local United Way and other community benefits.
JBS in Cactus, Texas and its 3,450 associates focus on quality beef manufacturing for 80% domestic and 20% export use. This facility primarily produces the Swift® brand beef products. And just like the Nebraska branch, employees here are also involved in the local United Way and other community programs.
JBS USA in Greeley, Colorado employs 3,200 individuals. This facility also focuses on beef manufacturing, exporting over 30% of its final product to more than 20 different countries worldwide. This facility also participates in community benefit programs.
Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. also has a plant located in Holcomb, Kansas. Its 3,100 employees are part of the world&#;s largest food processing company. As such, Tyson takes sustainability seriously, exploring new avenues of responsible growth to meet the needs of the world&#;s population.
National Beef Packing Co., LLC, housed in Dodge City, Kansas, is one of the company&#;s highest-volume plants in the world. The facility&#;s 3,000 employees only process family-raised, corn-fed Black Angus beef for the meatpacking industry.
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Editor's Note: This article was originally published in December . It has been updated annually to reflect new statistics and challenges in the market.
URBANA, Ill. &#; Meat processing plants in the U.S. have garnered considerable public attention in recent years, often focusing on production and labor issues. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the vulnerability of large, concentrated plants, as major shutdowns led to reduced output and higher meat prices for consumers.
Policy makers have launched initiatives at the state and federal levels to increase meat processing capacity and industry resilience, often favoring small and medium-sized plants. But little research exists to determine what factors make plants more likely to succeed. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at meat processing plants across the United States, aiming to identify characteristics associated with plant survival and provide crucial information for legislators.
&#;Even before the pandemic, there was a lot of focus on concentration in meat processing. When the pandemic hit, plants with thousands of workers shut down due to COVID outbreaks. Meat processing capacity was reduced by about 40% at the height of the lockdowns, and ongoing efforts to break up plants were intensified,&#; said Sarah Low, professor and head of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois. Low is co-author on the study, published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
&#;Our goal was to understand what factors are associated with plant survival, so we could better inform policymakers who want to invest in these plants,&#; Low added.
The researchers analyzed data from to for U.S. non-poultry meat processors with more than five employees (poultry was excluded due to a unique industry structure). The analysis included 7,839 plants, focusing on plant-level characteristics, local context, and concentration.
The study showed the majority of meat processing plants are located in the Eastern half of the U.S., although small and medium plants are more dispersed throughout the states. Many plants are clustered around major cities in proximity to large customer bases and available workforce &#; in fact, 86% of plants are located in metro or metro-adjacent counties.
The researchers found the average plant survived 9.7 years and 62% of the plants failed at some point during the study period, with small and medium plants more likely to fail than large plants.
&#;We did find a difference in factors associated with survival for the small and medium plants, compared to the large plants, as well as for urban versus rural plants. For small plants, survival was closely related to business diversification. If they added a retail or wholesale meat market, they were more likely to survive,&#; explained Catherine Isley, senior business analyst at The Context Network and lead author on the study.
&#;For larger plants, we found that local context, including workforce-related variables, was more closely related to plant survival. We didn&#;t find much evidence for the impact of concentration, except for large non-metro plants, where concentration was related to increased survival. This finding suggests that policies aiming to support small and medium meat processors by breaking up larger processors might negatively impact output and industry capacity,&#; she stated.
If plants are spread out across the country, then workers would have to be spread out as well, Low noted. &#;There are locations in Nebraska or Kansas, where whole communities are set up to serve immigrant workers. If you want to break up these big processors and have plants in small towns, who's going to work there? We currently have a shortage of labor nationwide, and many plants rely on an immigrant workforce,&#; she said.
Policy initiatives for large plants need to address labor availability issues and support the labor force effectively, Low and Isley pointed out. This could include, for example, increasing the number of visas for immigrant workers, training new workers, improving working conditions, and investing in research and development to automate processes.
For small and medium plants, there is a different set of policy implications.
&#;To allocate federal or state dollars in the most efficient way, it would make sense to support plants that are diversified and more likely to survive,&#; Isley said. &#;But on the flip side, the goal might be to support plants that are more likely to fail, because otherwise those local communities wouldn't have a plant. However, this approach would only work in areas where the market can support value-added niche products. There&#;s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution for small plants.&#;
The researchers also found that small plants managed by women in rural areas are less likely to survive. Thus, an additional target for investments could be technical assistance for very small women-operated plants in rural areas, including entrepreneurial training and ecosystem building. Low suggests leveraging the expertise of Cooperative Extension Services, such as Illinois Extension, which are uniquely positioned to provide support and resources for small businesses in local areas.
The article, &#;Meat processing plant survival: The role of plant and regional characteristics,&#; is published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association [doi.org/10./jaa2.55]. Authors are Catherine Isley and Sarah Low.
This research was supported in part by USDA OCE cooperative agreement #58--21-009, &#;State and Regional Farm Financial Analysis&#; and by the Missouri Ag. Experiment Station and University of Missouri Extension.
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