Packer
As the federal government settles with Agri Stats over data-sharing, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary Brooke Rollins launch a high-stakes investigation into beef market concentration and potential price-fixing.
Thousands of union workers at the JBS Greeley, Colo., plant went on strike Monday calling for higher wages, safer working conditions and respect on the job.
UNL predicts closure will result in $3.28 billion in annual statewide economic losses. The analysis projects more than 7,000 jobs lost statewide, including 3,212 plant positions, along with significant reductions in labor income and state and local tax revenues.
Terrain’s Dave Weaber says placements of cattle into feedlots will continue to shrink, long-feared beef slaughter capacity reductions have arrived, and the beef cow herd hasn’t begun to expand.
The announcement to close the Lexington, Neb., plant and transition to one shift in Amarillo shocked the beef industry. While local impacts will be significant, analysts urge producers to remain calm as the market fundamentals steady following the reaction.
The company will end operations in early 2026 in the plant that employs nearly 3,200 people and can slaughter almost 5,000 cattle a day and convert its Amarillo, Texas, beef facility to a single, full-capacity shift.
Strong demand supports beef prices amid economic volatility, but herd investment and growth slows as producers grapple with increasing uncertainty due to political noise.
Oklahoma State’s Derrell Peel says the beef industry needs time — not politics or policy — to solve beef supply and demand realities.
President Trump orders an immediate investigation into major meatpackers over high prices and price manipulation.
Meat Institute report analyzes the state of beef cattle markets and points out current pricing myths.
The 2025 State of the Beef Industry Report summarizes optimism prevails yet challenges persist in today’s beef industry.
Market analysts attribute the strong beef demand to several factors including the consumer craze for protein.
Farmshare helps connect producers more directly with end buyers in the market by way of independent processing facilities.
Firefighters were dispatched to National Beef’s 6,000-head per day facility in Liberal, Kansas, Wednesday evening.
Working off a big trade the previous week and slowed production, packers were reluctant to purchase cattle but the futures market took a dip and buyers stepped in at steady money and gathered inventory.
Eight beef packing projects are in various stages of completion that could add 10% to total industry capacity; is it needed? What potential headwinds might these ventures face?
Cash fed cattle prices ended last week $10 per cwt. lower than last year while the beef cutout closed $16 higher than the same week a year ago. The result? Packer margins $314 per head more than last year.
Profit margins for both cattle and hog finishing operations saw modest gains last week but also carry significantly higher feed costs than a year ago.
The pendulum continues swinging toward cattle feeders as cash prices jumped $3 last week and left packers with their largest negative margins in nearly six years.
Cattle feeding margins declined last week after modest declines in cash cattle prices. Pork producer margins remain underwater.
Judas goats? One of history’s last slaughterhouse witnesses to the bizarre Judas goat spectacle recalls the death parade to the killing floor.
Tyson Foods gave its chicken suppliers two months’ notice of its plan to shut a Virginia processing plant in May, raising concerns among farmers and legal experts about Tyson’s compliance with antitrust regulations.
USDA issued a proposed rulemaking on Monday that would effectively close the “Product of the U.S.A.” loophole that has been in effect since the repeal of COOL in 2015.
Cattle feeders and packers were in a standoff most of the week with cash trading only moderate in all regions. Cattle feeders are in a good position as inventories and carcass weights declining.
Fifteen food and beverage associations sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting priority access to COVID-19 vaccines to protect workers and keep the food supply chain running.
The bonus is intended to encourage employees to get inoculations, after thousands of U.S. meatpacking workers became infected with the coronavirus last year.
The company says it will also provide $200 to fully vaccinated frontline team members.