"The COVID-19 pandemic is keeping more pigs and cattle on farms as meatpacking plants go idle, stretching farmers and raising questions about how to handle an unexpected spike in animals.

Pork producers especially are in a pinch, farm and food groups say, with Smithfield Foods Inc.'s closure of plants in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Martin City, Mo., due to exposure of employees to the novel coronavirus. The South Dakota plant alone produces 130 million servings of pork a week, providing a market for 500 farms.

Cattle farmers generally are able to keep and maintain animals that can't be sent quickly to market, said Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a trade group."

Marc Heller reports for Greenwire April 20, 2020. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Factbox: Spread of Coronavirus Closes North American Meat Plants" (Reuters) [3]

"'No Way Food Safety Not Compromised': Us Regulation Rollbacks During Covid-19 Criticised" (Guardian) [4]

"The Food Chain’s Weakest Link: Slaughterhouses" (New York Times) [5]