Ranchers in Illinois are scrambling to find transport solutions after the abrupt closure of the Tyson beef processing plant on Thursday.
Tyson Foods announced the closure without prior warning on Thursday, August 13th, leading to the immediate closure of the beef facility in Joslin, Illinois. Beef industry leaders say that plant closures of this magnitude typically come with a couple of months notice. The most recent example of this was the closure of Tyson’s Nebraska beef plant, where a two month notice was given before the facility shut down.
“Tyson’s announcement in Nebraska came with a two-month notice period, which gave producers time to sort pens and shift plans and do something different. This leaves a pretty hard pill to swallow,” said Josh St. Peters, executive vice president of the Illinois Beef Association and a cattle rancher himself, to Farm Progress…