(TysonFoods.com)

U.S. under pressure to keep slaughterhouses open

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking to reassure meat producers it will keep slaughterhouses staffed with federal inspectors as fears about potential shutdowns due to the COVID-19 coronavirus hammer livestock prices and fuel concerns about food supplies, meat industry groups said on Monday. Livestock markets have been hit hard as […] Read more

(TysonFoods.com)

Tyson bans ractopamine from its U.S. hog supply

Reuters — Tyson Foods in February will stop buying U.S. hogs raised with a growth drug banned by China, the company said on Thursday, as global meat suppliers seek an edge in boosting sales to Chinese buyers facing a huge pork shortage due to an outbreak of a fatal pig disease. The halt in the […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cargill suspends shifts at Kansas beef plant after explosion

Chicago | Reuters — Cargill said Thursday it had suspended some shifts at its Dodge City, Kansas beef-packing plant after an explosion injured two employees. Cargill spokesman Daniel Sullivan said the company expects the facility to be fully operational soon and that it would meet all it customer commitments. The company is investigating the cause […] Read more

Workers sit outside the Tyson Fresh Meats processing plant at Holcomb, Kan. on Aug. 12, 2019, three days after a fire heavily damaged the facility. (Photo: Reuters/Adam Shrimplin)

USDA to probe beef market after Tyson plant fire

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered an investigation into widening prices between cattle and beef on Wednesday after a recent fire at a Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Holcomb, Kansas, shut the plant. Cattle prices have tanked because the fire temporarily eliminated a key buyer of livestock. Producers have worried that meat […] Read more



Pork baby back ribs. (Grandriver/Getty Images)

Packers win dismissal of U.S. pork price-fixing suits

Reuters — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed antitrust lawsuits accusing several large U.S. pork companies of conspiring to limit the supply of pork to inflate prices and their own profits at the expense of consumers and other purchasers. Chief Judge John Tunheim of the federal court in Minneapolis said the plaintiffs failed to show […] Read more


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Walmart creating own Angus beef supply chain

Reuters — Walmart Inc. is taking control of the supply chain for Angus beef sold in some of its stores, cutting out meat processors as the company looks to offer higher quality products in an intensely competitive grocery industry. The world’s largest retailer said Wednesday the move would allow it to ensure supplies of quality […] Read more


U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is seeking the Democrats’ 2020 nomination for president, greets Ella Clare Campbell after speaking in Memphis on March 17, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Karen Pulfer Focht)

Democratic contender Warren targets corporate agriculture

Washington | Reuters — Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren took aim on Wednesday at agricultural conglomerates, promising her administration would break up big agribusiness mergers that she said have hurt family farmers. Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts and a fierce Wall Street critic, released a broad plan that she said would make it easier […] Read more