Area farmers concerned as food processing plants may soon shut down

NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – “The food chain is breaking.”

This was the warning issued Monday by one of America’s largest food processors– Tyson Foods.

As more people test positive for the Coronavirus across the nation, more food processing facilities will be forced to close. Infected workers can mean indefinite shutdowns.

This means less meat will be available at grocery stores, and what is available, won’t be cheap.

“We could find ourselves in America and across the country with inadequate food supply, particularly meat products,” said Governor Tate Reeves.

On Monday, Gov. Reeves addressed the food chain issue in his daily press conference.

The issue received national attention after the Chairman of Tyson Foods took out ads with the Washington Post and the New York Times.

“We cannot find ourselves in a situation in which livestock or other things that we depend on as part of the nation’s food supply are rotting while we’re running out food across the country,” said Reeves.

Jack Huerkamp produces corn in Noxubee County.

100% of his crop is sold as livestock feed, primarily for chickens.

When a chicken plant shuts down, Huerkamp has no place to sell his feed.

“If you stay shutdown then that starts backing up feeding, and feeding is what we do. We’re raising the corn that goes to the feed,” said Huerkamp.

He said if he were to try and sell his corn today, he wouldn’t be able to turn a profit.

“Looking at the market and looking at demand, which we watch all the time, I look at it every day, our corn price is down a lot,” said Huerkamp.

So far, processing plants in Noxubee County are open.

At Peco Foods in Brooksville, it’s business as usual.

Employees tell WCBI that another female employee tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.

The plant remains open.

Insiders say the factory is cleaning every single night to ensure the safety of all employees.

WCBI reached out to the Brooksville plant as well as the Peco headquarters for a comment, and they have yet to get back to us.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs with the Mississippi Department of Health said most of the food processing plants within the state are cooperating with proper health regulations.

“They’ve been very receptive to recommendations to making things safe and have actually been extremely innovative in some of the things they’ve done. Especially around making sure that their employees are wearing PPE or have other environmental things built in that would minimize transmission,” said Hobbs.

Huerkamp said he’s holding out hope for his November corn crops.

He hopes by then the price of corn will be above the profit margin.

Late Tuesday afternoon Peco Foods released a statement:

“Peco Foods takes all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. We have reacted swiftly to assess and address potential threats to our Team Members. Currently, all individuals entering our facilities are temperature scanned and required to wear face masks while on-site. We are also following strict sanitation and social distancing recommendations. As an industry considered essential to America’s infrastructure, we meet or exceed all pertinent CDC guidelines. We continue to work closely with State Health Departments to ensure our Team Members’ wellness is the top priority. Peco Foods has taken all precautions necessary since the start of this pandemic to keep our Team Members and communities safe and will continually monitor the situation and take appropriate actions as necessary.”