We told you earlier this week that Tyson Foods had announced the planned closure of four of their chicken processing facilities in the U.S.
Now, Smithfield Foods has announced they will close 35 hog farm operations in Missouri. According to a state-required workforce adjustment notification, 92 employees would be affected by the closures slated for this month.
Murphy Brown LLC, a division of Smithfield Foods, is reducing hog farming operations in Missouri and “must reduce its workforce accordingly,” a company spokesperson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Employees impacted by the closures were offered the chance to relocate to other hog-producing facilities operated by the company. Smithfield Foods is the world’s largest pork processor and is owned by Hong Kong’s WH Group.
The U.S. meat industry is facing demand struggles in both pork and poultry due to increased prices and inflation, amid higher feed and labor costs.