Some meat processing plants have become hot spots for COVID-19 infections, leading to some shutdowns, and others to slow production as they work to improve containment, keep workers socially distant and keep employees who are sick at home.
This has led to a glut of livestock that is ready for harvest and fears that farmers who have to do what is anathema to them: euthanize animals that they cannot keep and cannot sell.
In Illinois, it has not come to that, said Jenny Jackson, director of communications for the Illinois Pork Producers Association, which represents 1,600 pig farmers.
“Luckily, in Illinois, we are not to that point, Jackson said. “We are fortunate to have all three of our major packers back up and running. They are not at 100% capacity so not going to completely alleviate our problem in our backlog of pigs But it is certainly going to help.”
Also helping is the presence of smaller, “mom and pop” abattoirs.
The cost of processing a single mature hog – usually around 300 pounds – is $150, and that provides 200 pounds of meat. Some consumers are providing new markets by buying their own hogs from farmers and then paying to have them processed into food, Jackson said.
But that process is also used to provide food for those who cannot afford it. Under the association’s Pork Power program, farmers donate pigs and the public donates money to process that pig. Each $150 results in 200 pounds of ground pork, enough to feed 800 people, being donated to local food banks. According to Feeding America, one in nine Illinois residents and one in six children were facing food insecurity before the coronavirus crisis, which has sent demand at food banks skyrocketing.
