Cargill to close Texas plant because of low cattle numbers
21/01/2013
Approximately 2,000 people work at the Plainview facility.
“The decision to idle our Plainview beef processing plant was a difficult and painful one to make and was made only after we conducted an exhaustive analysis of the regional cattle supply and processing capacity situation in North America,” said John Keating, president of Cargill Beef. “While idling a major beef plant is unfortunate because of the resulting layoff of good people, which impacts their families and the community of Plainview, we were compelled to make a decision that would reduce the strain created on our beef business by the reduced cattle supply. The US cattle herd is at its lowest level since 1952. Increased feed costs resulting from the prolonged drought, combined with herd liquidations by cattle ranchers, are severely and adversely contributing to the challenging business conditions we face as an industry.”
The company’s remaining beef cattle processing plants in the region, at Friona, Texas; Dodge City, Kansas, and Fort Morgan, Colorado, will receive cattle that were previously destined for processing at Plainview. The company’s regional beef facilities at Fresno, California, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, as well as its beef plant in Schuyler, Nebraska, and two beef plants in Canada, are unaffected.
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