Tyson Foods plant closure raises antitrust concerns among US farmers, experts


 Nine-day-old chicks drink water at a Foster Farms ranch near Turlock

Fri, March 24, 2023
By Leah Douglas and Tom Polansek

(Reuters) -Tyson Foods Inc 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 the company's compliance with antitrust regulations requiring it to give 90 days' notice before ending a contract.

The planned closure of the plant has left dozens of Virginia chicken growers scrambling to find new buyers in a region with few other options. It could also expose Tyson to fines under the century-old Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), the U.S. antitrust law requiring the minimum advance warning, according to Peter Carstensen, a professor of law emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School who previously served in the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tyson told Reuters the company is not canceling any farmers' contracts and instead has committed to paying the growers for the full-term of their remaining contracts, keeping in compliance with federal regulations.

Antitrust issues, particularly in meatpacking, have been a priority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under President Joe Biden, who in 2021 directed federal agencies to tackle consolidation. Four companies, including Tyson, control 55% to 85% of the beef, pork, and chicken markets.

Tyson alerted Virginia farmers by phone on March 13 and later by mail that it will shut its Glen Allen plant on May 12, according to three poultry farmers who supply the plant. The company said there are 55 farmers with 73 contracts who supply the plant with chickens raised for meat.

Tyson owns chickens it slaughters and pays the farmers to raise them. The company hatches baby birds and trucks them to farmers. The farmers then raise the birds for about six weeks, until they reach the size to be slaughtered and are trucked to the processing plant.

Tyson spokesperson Alicia Buffer confirmed farmers received notice last week of the May 12 closing, and said Tyson intends to stop supplying them with chicks after March 28.

She said that instead of canceling their contracts, Tyson is offering farmers a voluntary buyout package, or the option to retain them and be paid through their duration.

The three farmers interviewed by Reuters have between three and 10 years left on their contracts.

Farmers told Reuters they felt pressure to accept the buyout option because they were not sure how the contract could remain in force after the plant is shut and the chicks stop coming.

Roger Reynolds, a farmer in Crewe, Virginia, said retaining his July 2012 contract with Tyson is not a viable option, in part because it would prevent him from selling to another poultry company if one entered the region.

Another farmer with a contract to supply the plant, who asked not to be named, said they may eventually have to sell their third-generation farm as the buyout offer would not cover long-term expenses like property taxes.

Carstensen, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, said it was unclear if Tyson's approach would absolve it of its requirement to provide farmers 90 days' notice before ending a purchase contract, because closing the plant means it won't be processing chickens there anymore.

PSA violations can carry a $29,270 fine, according to the USDA website, and Carstensen said fines could apply for each contract.

The USDA, which enforces the PSA, told Reuters it is "closely monitoring" Tyson's planned plant closure.

'WE'RE DONE'

Under normal circumstances, Tyson supplies farmers with chicks, while farmers assume the costs of land and chicken houses.

Documents reviewed by Reuters show the company's proposed buyout package offers payment to farmers based on their average payment per flock in 2022.

They also show that farmers opting to retain existing contracts instead of accepting the buyout would have to meet Tyson's contractual requirements for their facilities even after the company stops providing chicks.

Tyson said those growers would have to perform "routine and preventive maintenance" to meet contract requirements and called the options generous.

Farmers must choose between the options by the end of March, according to the document.

On Monday, about 20 Tyson farmers and local government officials gathered in a fire station in Burkeville, Virginia, and raised concerns about Tyson's short timeline for closure of the plant, attendees said.

Taylor Lee, a farmer in DeWitt, Virginia, who attended the meeting, said he built two new chicken houses in 2017 and raised about 400,000 birds annually for Tyson, and is unclear what will happen to his investment.

"When we're done growing chickens (for Tyson), we're done, unless somebody else steps in," Lee said.

The nearest chicken plants to Glen Allen are 100 to 150 miles away, outside the ideal radius of 60 miles, said Hobey Bauhan, Virginia Poultry Federation president. Longer distances hike transportation costs and health risks to chickens.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington and Tom Polansek in Chicago; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Nick Zieminski)

DIVE BRIEF
Tyson heir CFO pick draws ethical fire

Published Sept. 30, 2022
By
Elizabeth Flood

Associate Editor
“Tysons Food Donation 2012” by Central Texas Food Bank is licensed under CC BY-ND 1.0

Dive Brief:Tyson Foods, Inc.’s promotion of John R. Tyson, son of board chairman John H. Tyson, to the CFO seat could potentially be a conflict of interest, legal experts have said. Tyson, the world’s second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork announced the promotion in a Tuesday filing.
Tyson, 32, has minimal experience in executive financial leadership positions compared to his predecessor, Stewart Glendinning, who took his first CFO position back in 2005 at Molson Coors UK, according to his LinkedIn profile.

 
Tyson previously served as chief sustainability officer for the group from September 2019 until the present. His move to CFO is set to take effect Oct. 2. The promotion comes as the company is struggling to fulfill customer orders amid rising labor, feed ingredients, live animal and freight costs.

Learn why financial leaders must identify the pitfalls and potential impact of current practices to enable a well-informed decision-making process.Download now
Dive Insight:

Experts say the promotion raises questions about a potential conflict of interest, although it does not directly violate any securities regulations.

The main concern lies in whether or not the board will be able to terminate Tyson should he not perform, given the father-son relationship that exists between the chairman and the finance chief.

“A conflict may exist if a situation arises where a Team Member’s or a family member’s personal interest conflicts with the interests of Tyson Foods, or a Team Member uses his or her position at Tyson Foods to achieve personal gain,” reads the company’s Code of Conduct from what appears to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Donnie Smith, then-CEO of the Springdale, Ark.-based company noted in the filing that these guidelines are drawn from existing policies and procedures and that there is “no single document” that can address every situation that may arise. The company asserts that, “You have a duty to avoid a conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict,” per the company website.

“Research on cognitive biases demonstrates that we often think of decisions as ‘business decisions’ rather than ethical ones. One risk here is a ‘slippery slope,’ where the CFO might make small lapses (such sharing company documents that only the CFO might have access to with family members) that grow into larger ones,” said Nicole Coomber, assistant dean and professor of management & organization at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland in an emailed response to questions.

Another concern around the appointment is Tyson’s age. The average age for CFOs at the top 1,000 U.S. companies by revenue is 54, according to a Korn Ferry study. The younger John Tyson will take the financial helm at just 32.

“I think we will see more C-suite leaders in their 30s. Experience is a double-edged sword; it can lead us to think we know the right answer when we are faced with situations similar to what we have already experienced,” said Coomber.

Although Tyson has experience as chief sustainability officer at the company, his financial industry experience is limited to various roles in investment banking, private equity and venture capital, including J.P. Morgan from 2012 to 2017, said the company in the SEC filing.

“We can have blind spots when it comes to our loved ones,” said Coomber in an email. “Typically, any family run business where a family member is appointed to leadership needs to make sure they have a transparent governance model, and a family charter that specifically addresses how they will manage any conflicts of interest,” she said.

Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann notoriously appointed his wife to a high-level marketing position and then allowed her to start a school using company funds, noted Coomber. This is not to say that family members should never be appointed to high level positions, she said.

Tyson Foods has a long history of placing family members in positions of power, making them one of the wealthiest lineages in the U.S., according to Forbes.

Barbara A. Tyson, board director and the elder John Tyson’s aunt, has “substantial personal interest” in Tyson Foods as the sole income beneficiary of the BT 2015 Fund, which is a limited partner in the Tyson Limited Partnership, according to her biography on the company website.

Additionally, John H. Tyson, the new finance chief’s father and chairman of the board has been at his position since 1984 and also has “substantial financial interest” in the company through his interest in the partnership.

The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Conflict of Interest | Tyson Code of Conduct

Conflict Of Interest


You have a duty to avoid a conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict. A conflict of interest arises when you have a financial or personal interest that could interfere with your obligation to act in the best interests of the Company, or when you use your position with the Company for personal gain. If we don’t handle potential conflicts of interest properly, these situations can impact the decisions we make, create the appearance of a lack of fairness and integrity, and harm the Company’s reputation. Our Conflict of Interest Policy requires team members and Directors to disclose both actual and perceived conflicts of interest so that others do not question their integrity.

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HQ MOVES
Hundreds of workers leaving Tyson Foods as company closes offices: report

Ken Martin
Wed, December 21, 2022 

Hundreds of employees at Tyson Foods have decided not to relocate to the company's headquarters in Arkansas next year as the company consolidates its corporate offices.

The workers are reportedly from two of its largest business units, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tyson announced in October that it planned to close its offices in Chicago, Downers Grove, Ill., and Dakota Dunes, S.D.

Those corporate employees work in the prepared foods, beef and pork divisions. About 1,000 employees total work in those locations, the company has said.

CHICAGO FACES MORE CORPORATE DEPARTURES AS TYSON FOODS MOVES TO ARKANSAS

A sign hangs above the Tyson Foods offices in Chicago, Illinois.

Tyson set a deadline of Nov. 14 to decide if they would relocate.

About three-quarters of the 500 employees in Tyson’s South Dakota office told the company they wouldn’t make the move.

More than 90% of the employees in Tyson’s Chicago office have declined to relocate, people told the Journal.

Nationwide, the meat company has about 120,000 employees, with about 114,000 of them working in production plants.

TYSON FOODS LATEST LARGE BUSINESS TO FLEE CHICAGO, WHAT SPARKED THE EXODUS?

."I’m confident the plan we have in place ensures business continuity and positions us for long-term success," said Tyson Chief Executive Donnie King in a statement. "We knew there would be a variety of responses when we announced the consolidation of our corporate locations."

Some key managers have planned to leave instead of relocate including the leader of its beef and pork unit.

Tyson Foods Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Tyson’s beef and pork division makes up almost half the company’s $53 billion in revenue in its 2022 fiscal year.

Tyson Foods Employees From Chicago And Dakota Business Units Plan To Quit


Shivani Kumaresan
Thu, December 22, 2022 



Tyson Foods Inc (NYSE: TSN) employees from its Illinois and South Dakota business units are planning to leave the company.

The move comes as Tyson solidifies its corporate offices to northwest Arkansas in 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The food processing company had said in October it plans to bring together all its corporate team members from the Chicago, Downers Grove and Dakota Dunes area corporate locations to its world headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas.

The decision, according to Tyson, is expected to boost closer collaboration, enhance team member agility, and enable faster decision-making.

So, the company asked its workers to decide if they wanted to relocate to Arkansas and gave them time until November 14.

About three-quarters of the 500 employees in the South Dakota office have seemingly decided against moving to Arkansas and are mulling leaving when the company winds up its offices in mid-2023.

Also, over 90% of workers in Chicago did not favor relocating.

The senior vice president of Tyson’s pork business, Leah Andersen, is also expected to leave.

Tyson’s beef and pork division constituted about half of its $53 billion revenue in FY2022.

“I’m confident the plan we have in place ensures business continuity and positions us for long-term success,” said CEO Donnie King.

“We knew there would be a variety of responses when we announced the consolidation of our corporate locations.”

RIP
Ian Tyson, half of Ian & Sylvia folk duo, dead at age 89

Canadian folk singer Ian Tyson, who wrote 'Four Strong Winds,' died following a series of health complications, his manager said

Associated Press

Ian Tyson, the Canadian folk singer who wrote the modern standard "Four Strong Winds" as one half of Ian & Sylvia and helped influence such future superstars as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, died Thursday at age 89.

The native of Victoria, British Columbia, died at his ranch in southern Alberta following a series of health complications, his manager, Paul Mascioli, said.

Tyson was a part of the influential folk movement in Toronto with his first wife, Sylvia Tyson. He was also seen as a throwback to more rustic times and devoted much of his life to living on his ranch and pursuing songs about the cowboy life.


"He put a lot of time and energy into his songwriting and felt his material very strongly, especially the whole cowboy lifestyle,″ Sylvia Tyson said of her former husband.

STARS WE’VE LOST IN 2022



Ian Tyson, the Canadian folk singer who wrote "Four Strong Winds" as one half of Ian & Sylvia, died Dec. 29, 2022, at age 89. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

He was best known for the troubadour's lament "Four Strong Winds" and its classic refrain about the life of a wanderer: "If the good times are all gone/Then I’m bound for movin’ on/I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way."

Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings and Judy Collins were among the many performers who covered the song. Young included "Four Strong Winds" on his acclaimed "Comes a Time" album, released in 1978, and two years earlier performed the song at "The Last Waltz" concert staged by the Band to mark its farewell to live shows.

Tyson was born Sept. 25, 1933, to parents who emigrated from England. He attended private school and learned to play polo, then he discovered the rodeo.

After graduating from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958, he hitchhiked to Toronto. He was swept up in the city’s burgeoning folk movement, where Canadians including Young, Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot played in hippie coffee houses in the Bohemian Yorkville neighborhood.

Tyson soon met Sylvia Fricker and they began a relationship — onstage and off — moving to New York. Their debut album, "Ian & Sylvia," in 1962 was a collection of mostly traditional songs. Their second album, 1964′s "Four Strong Winds,″ was the duo’s breakthrough, thanks in large part to its title track, one of the record's only original compositions.


His manager, Paul Mascioli, says Tyson died at his ranch in southern Alberta following a series of health complications. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

Married in 1964, the pair continued releasing new records with regularity. But as the popularity of folk waned, they moved to Nashville and began integrating country and rock into their music.

In 1969, the Tysons formed the country-rock band Great Speckled Bird, which appeared with Janis Joplin, The Band and the Grateful Dead among others on the "Festival Express" tour across Canada in 1970, later the basis for a documentary released in 2004.

They had a child, Clay, in 1968, but the couple grew apart as their career began to stall in the ’70s. They divorced in 1975.

Tyson moved back to western Canada and returned to ranch life, training horses and cowboying in Pincher Creek, Alberta, 135 miles south of Calgary. These experiences increasingly filtered through his songwriting, particularly on 1983′s "Old Corrals and Sagebrush.″

In 1987, Tyson won a Juno Award for country male vocalist of the year, and five years later, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame alongside Sylvia Tyson. He was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.

Tyson was a part of the influential folk movement in Toronto with his first wife, Sylvia. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Despite damage to his voice resulting from a heart attack and surgery in 2015, Tyson continued to perform live concerts. But the heart problems returned and forced Tyson to cancel appearances in 2018.

He continued to play his guitar at home, though.

"I think that’s the key to my hanging in there because you’ve gotta use it or lose it,″ he said in 2019.

 

Nearly 200 COVID-19 cases force Tyson Foods to 'indefinitely suspend' operations at its pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, but the city's mayor says this move came 'too late'

Rhea Mahbubani

A Tyson Fresh Meats plant stands in Waterloo, Iowa, date not known. On Friday, April 17, 2020, more than a dozen Iowa elected officials asked Tyson to close the pork processing plant because of the spread of the coronavirus among its workforce of nearly 3,000 people. (Jeff Reinitz/The Courier via AP) Associated Press
Meat supplier Tyson Foods, Inc. decided on Wednesday to "indefinitely suspend" operations at its pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, which has been blamed for a large COVID-19 outbreak.

Nearly 200 people have tested positive for coronavirus, and others, scared of contracting the disease, have been staying home.

The closure will impact the country's meat supply because "the plant is part of a larger supply chain that includes hundreds of independent farmers, truckers, distributors and customers, including grocers," Tyson Foods said in a statement.

But Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart told CNN that this step came "too late."

Tyson Foods, Inc. announced on Wednesday that it plans to shut down its largest pork plant, located in Waterloo, Iowa, after nearly 200 workers were infected with the coronavirus.

In a press release, the company said it will "indefinitely suspend" operations at the facility where about 2,800 are employed. Team members can return for COVID-19 testing later this week, it added.

In addition to some 180 people who have fallen sick, hundreds — afraid of catching the virus — have stayed home, forcing the plant to cut back on its production levels, the Associated Press reported.

"Despite our continued efforts to keep our people safe while fulfilling our critical role of feeding American families, the combination of worker absenteeism, COVID-19 cases, and community concerns has resulted in our decision to stop production," group president Steve Stouffer said

This closure will trigger "significant" ripple effects outside Tyson Foods, Stouffer added, because "the plant is part of a larger supply chain that includes hundreds of independent farmers, truckers, distributors and customers, including grocers. It means the loss of a vital market outlet for farmers and further contributes to the disruption of the nation's pork supply."

Although pleased with the plant's closure, Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart told CNN that this step came "too late."

"We went from 21 cases of Covid on April 9 to about 380 yesterday, and we even doubled that number in two days from 191 to 380. So at this point, closing, cleaning, testing people, is the best scenario for it," he said

Hart stressed that battling the coronavirus should be a bipartisan issue.

"It hurts when it feels like your pleas to people falls on deaf ears," he told CNN. " This isn't a political issue. It's not a Republican, not a Democrat [issue]. This is a humanitarian issue. And we needed proactive steps to be able to squash this spread."

Tyson Foods has already shuttered its Columbus Junction pork processing plant in a bid to safeguard employees from COVID-19, after 186 people tested positive for the illness, the Hill reported. Four workers at Tyson Food's poultry processing plant in Georgia died of the coronavirus.

The Waterloo plant alone can process around 19,500 hogs a day, AP said. Its closure, combined with that of the Smithfield Foods pork processing facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is sure to disrupt the meat supply nationwide.

Hart acknowledged that the Waterloo plant's closure will affect the national food chain, but underscored that "in order to be able to stop the spread, this was the best course of action to support the workers that prepare our food," according to CNN.

Multiple sources told Hoosier Ag Today that Tyson Foods is also preparing to shut down its plant in Logansport, where an unknown number of employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. Production was called off on Wednesday, according to the media organization that covers Indiana's agriculture industry. Tyson Foods has not yet confirmed this information.

Tyson Foods closes Iowa plant, will test workers for COVID-19

A healthcare worker administers a COVID-19 test at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

April 22 (UPI) -- Tyson Foods announced Wednesday it's suspending operations at its Waterloo, Iowa, plant after almost 200 workers tested positive for the coronavirus disease.

The Springdale, Ark.-based company said the pork plant closure will be indefinite, depending on the health of its workforce.

Tyson said operations have been running at reduced levels in recent weeks as workers missed work due to ill health. Local officials told The Courier in Waterloo more than 180 employees tested positive for COVID-19 and one died.

The company said it plans to invite the Waterloo workers, which number 2,800, back to the plant later this week for testing.

"Despite our continued efforts to keep our people safe while fulfilling our critical role of feeding American families, the combination of worker absenteeism, COVID-19 cases and community concerns has resulted in our decision to stop production," said Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats.

"The closure has significant ramifications beyond our company, since the plant is part of a larger supply chain that includes hundreds of independent farmers, truckers, distributors and customers, including grocers," he added. "It means the loss of a vital market outlet for farmers and further contributes to the disruption of the nation's pork supply."

Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart said he's pleased with the company's decision to suspend operations.

"This is the action we have been waiting for," he told The Courier. "Now we must do everything we can to make sure testing and support are in place and personal precautions are maintained. The virus is here. We must all do what we can to contain it."

Tyson said employees at the plant will be paid while it's closed. Other Tyson facilities throughout the country are still in operation, some at reduced levels due to the pandemic.

There have been more than 3,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iowa and 83 deaths, according to The New York Times. Black Hawk County, where the Tyson pork plant is located, has the fourth-highest number of cases in Iowa (366) and two deaths. The county's case growth rate indicates the number of infections has sped up in recent days.

To date, there have been almost 835,000 coronavirus cases in the United States and nearly 46,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

SEE  

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https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=TYSON

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MEAT+PACKING

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=COVID19

Animal rights group says chickens were abused, but Tyson Foods cut ties with the farm on its own

By JOSH FUNK

AP

yesterday

The animal rights group Animal Outlook says that a Virginia farm that raised chickens for Tyson Foods mistreated the animals, and one of their investors shot pictures and video documenting the abuse last year. But Tyson says it cut ties with the farm in January after it uncovered animal welfare issues there on its own. (Animal Outlook via AP)

An animal rights group said Wednesday that a Virginia farm that raised chickens for Tyson Foods mistreated the animals, allowing some of them to go without feed and water at times.

But Tyson says it cut ties with the farm in January after it uncovered animal welfare issues there on its own.

The group, Animal Outlook, said it had an investigator working undercover at Jannat Farm from August to November of last year observing as 150,000 birds were raised from chicks until they were ready for slaughter. In addition to seeing chickens go without feed for up to 52 hours, the group said it documented instances of physical abuse and filthy conditions at the farm.

The Associated Press could not immediately locate a contact at the farm itself. A spokesman for Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson, which processes 20% of U.S. beef, chicken and pork, denounced the conditions Animal Outlook documented in video and pictures shot at the farm and said the company ended its contract with the farm because it wasn’t meeting Tyson’s animal welfare standards.

“Since January 2023, no Tyson Foods birds have been placed on this farm and the farmer no longer has a contract to grow for Tyson Foods,” spokesman Derek Burleson said. “We have a longstanding commitment to the welfare, proper handling, and humane treatment and care of animals in our supply chain.”

Animal Outlook’s Executive Director Cheryl Leahy said Tyson should have known about the abuse sooner because the farm had been raising chickens for the meat producer for at least seven years, and the company had a manager overseeing operations there. Plus, Tyson was responsible for delivering the feed chickens went without for more than two days. Video shot by the group’s investigator also shows chickens being thrown and kicked by farm workers and in at least one case a worker ripped off the head of a chicken.

“There is absolutely no excuse,” Leahy said. “The day-to-day suffering of these birds is palpable in each of the videos. Still, Tyson delivered birds, year after year.”

Leahy said she believes Tyson’s decision to end its contract with this farm may have been related more to its decision to shut down a processing plant in the area this spring — not animal welfare concerns.

“It’s very clear that Tyson is an important part of the puzzle here, and the cruelty that we see in this investigation is systemic,” said Leahy, who cited two previous investigations her group has done at farms affiliated with Tyson.

The group filed a complaint with the local district attorney asking for a criminal investigation into the way the chickens were treated that was forwarded on to the state attorney general’s office.

In addition to the abuse Animal Outlook found, the group said this farm failed to follow good biosecurity practices to limit the spread of disease despite the ongoing bird flu outbreak that has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 59 million chickens and turkeys to limit the spread of that virus.

Animal Outlook said workers failed to sanitize their boots in bleach before they entered barns, and some of the buildings had openings that could allow wild animals to get inside. Experts believe bird flu is primarily spread by the droppings of wild birds as they migrate past farms.

The animal rights group said its investigator also found instances of bugs in some of the chicken feed and rats in the barns where the chickens were housed.

___

Josh Funk
Josh covers railroads & Warren Buffett's Berkshire HathawayFunkwritejfunk@ap.org

Follow Josh Funk online at www.twitter.com/funkwrite

Tyson Foods sets net-zero emissions goal, but falls short on farming project
By Tom Polansek 

© Reuters/Mike Blake FILE PHOTO: Tyson food meat products are shown in this photo illustration in Encinitas

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tyson Foods set a goal on Wednesday to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions globally by 2050, after missing a deadline to improve U.S. farming practices as part of an earlier effort to cut emissions.


The new target by the biggest U.S. meatpacker by sales expands a previous goal of reducing emissions by 30% by 2030.

To achieve net-zero emissions, Tyson said it will plan for U.S. operations to use 50% renewable energy by 2030 and extend a program to verify sustainable production practices for cattle, among other steps.

"We believe progress requires accountability and transparency," said John Tyson, chief sustainability officer.

Three years ago, Tyson Foods pledged to improve environmental practices on two million acres (809,370 hectares)of U.S. farmland by 2020. So far, though, it has enrolled just 408,000 acres, according to the company.

Tyson said it now plans to meet its two-million-acre target by 2025.

The company does not own grain farms but has influence over farming as the U.S. meat industry's largest buyer of feed corn. Two million acres is enough land to grow corn to feed all Tyson chickens for a year.

The 408,000 acres represent land enrolled in a 2019 pilot program by Farmers Business Network, which sells agricultural supplies online, according to Tyson.

A pilot program run by another company, MyFarms, enrolled 11,000 acres in 2019, Tyson said. However, Tyson removed these acres last year due to a lack of data and discontinued MyFarms' pilot in 2021, according to the meatpacker.

For Tyson Foods, it was a big learning experience to determine how to obtain "high-quality information about what's going on at the farm in a way that is as frictionless as possible for all parties," John Tyson said.

Interruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic also hindered land stewardship work last year, Tyson said in a sustainability report.

Meatpackers including Tyson came under fire in 2020 as COVID-19 infections tore through slaughterhouses.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; editing by Richard Pullin)

Laid-off: Former Tyson Foods chicken farmers face high costs switching to eggs

By Tom Polansek

April 30, 2024

REUTERS

 A worker sorts cage-free chicken eggs at Hilliker's Ranch Fresh Eggs in Lakeside, California, U.S., April 19, 2022. Picture taken April 19, 2022. 

REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - Some U.S. farmers who once raised chickens for Tyson Foods to slaughter are shifting to sell eggs instead after the meatpacker closed six plants, a move that left local suppliers with limited options for work.

In one example, former Tyson suppliers in central Virginia formed a cooperative that will produce cage-free eggs for Indiana-based Dutch Country Organics on a dozen farms, after Tyson closed its nearby Glen Allen plant last year.

In Dexter, Missouri, the world's biggest egg company, Cal-Maine Foods (CALM.O), opens new tab, in March finalized a deal to buy another chicken meat plant Tyson shuttered. Cal-Maine recruited local farmers to produce eggs.

The switch to eggs, which carries high costs, reflects the tough choices former Tyson suppliers around the country must make following the company's 2023 decision to shut plants in an effort to return to profitability in its chicken business after misjudging consumer demand.

Egg farming also comes with risk as lethal bird flu infections have hit laying hens harder than broiler chickens raised for meat. The virus flared up for a third year this spring, resulting in the culling of nearly 10 million hens involved in commercial egg production so far this year. Cal-Maine culled about 1.9 million, opens new tab birds this month after an outbreak in Texas.

MILLIONS TO UPGRADE
Former broiler growers must spend millions of dollars on barn and equipment upgrades to produce eggs, a notoriously volatile market, 18 poultry producers, government officials and industry experts told Reuters. Last year, egg prices tanked after reaching record highs due to the worst-ever outbreak of bird flu in poultry.

"It's a very expensive investment from the grower," said John Bapties, who is president of the Central Virginia Poultry Cooperative and raised chickens for Tyson for 20 years before the Glen Allen plant closed.

His cooperative is placing hens in barns that formerly housed broiler chickens, and expects to sell cage-free eggs produced by about one million birds to Dutch County Organics within a year, he said.

Farmers needed to replace dirt floors in barns with concrete and install nesting systems for hens, among other costly renovations.

Taylor Lee, a former Tyson grower in DeWitt, Virginia, said he decided against the switch. He will focus on raising crops while keeping his poultry barns empty for now.
"They're painting a pretty picture with that co-op but it's $2.8 million roughly to upgrade my farm to egg production," Lee said.

Roger Reynolds, another Virginia farmer who supplied broiler chickens to Tyson, said he is considering producing eggs for Braswell Family Farms. His daughter found work there after Tyson's plant closure eliminated her job.

Producing eggs means a different way of life, Reynolds said. For one thing, hens lay most of their eggs in the morning, meaning farmers cannot go to church on a Sunday without checking their barns first, he said.

CAGE-FREE EGGS

The United States has about 125 million cage-free laying hens, about 40% of total layers, U.S. government data show. More are needed after some states banned sales of eggs from caged hens and restaurants committed to cage-free supplies, Dutch Country Organics CEO Lamar Bontrager said.

"I've been getting calls like crazy," Bontrager said. "Those guys are all concerned of where to procure their eggs."

Dutch Country sells eggs to retailers including Walmart (WMT.N), opens new tab, Kroger (KR.N), opens new tab and Target (TGT.N), opens new tab, according to Virginia officials.
Former broiler growers offer egg companies an opportunity to expand production because the farmers are already familiar with poultry.

"It's one of the ways that these companies are converting: by grabbing old barns," said Brian Moscogiuri, global trade strategist for Eggs Unlimited.

Tyson declined to comment. The company said last year that 55 broiler growers supplied the Glen Allen plant and that it offered them buyout packages. The plant had about 700 employees.

Tyson has laid off corporate employees and said it will close an Iowa pork plant, in addition to shutting chicken plants. Farmers depended on the plants as markets for their livestock.

The meatpacker is slated to report quarterly results on Monday.

In Arkansas, the third biggest broiler-producing state, Tyson closed two chicken plants. Some of its former growers found work supplying other chicken companies, said Jared Garrett, Arkansas Farm Bureau's director of commodity activities and economics.
"They lucked out," he said.

JOBS WANTED

Tyson closed chicken plants in Dexter and Noel, Missouri, with about 700 workers and 1,500 workers, respectively. Cal-Maine said it plans to initially employ about 100 people at the Dexter plant.

"While I welcome Cal-Maine's investment in Dexter, it does not right the wrongs of Tyson or guarantee new jobs for the more than 2,000 Missourians now out of one," U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said in a statement to Reuters.

David Wyman, Dexter's city administrator, also welcomed Cal-Maine, though it is expected to work with a fraction of the farmers who supplied Tyson. Cal-Maine said it expects to expand over time and that revenue opportunities will be as good or better than farmers had under previous contracts.

But some former Tyson suppliers are left with empty barns, Wyman said: "They're really in bad shape."

Egg farming is generally harder to get into operationally than raising chickens for meat; requires more capital and labor expertise; and carries higher disease risks, said Wendong Zhang, an assistant professor and agricultural economist at Cornell University.
"Due to the closure of the plants and termination of contracts, the switch is in a way a move of necessity," he said.

Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here.


Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Anna Driver

Ralph Klein; Tyson's Bum Boy

"Screw You, Lakeside Workers"
Cowboy Ralphy, gunslinger for Tyson's

You know you are in trouble when not one but two influential Sun columnists expose the fact that King Ralph and his cronies are on the side of the devil, in this case American Meat Packing Monopoly Tysons, and the workers are on the side of the Angels.

It's not often in a labour dispute anywhere, let alone right wing Alberta, that UFCW has the support of the right wing Sun newspaper chain. Let alone its outspoken columnists like the normally trenchant neo-conservative Neil Waugh or Rick Bell. And they tell it like it is. Let alone two columnists in two major cities that usually never see eye to eye on anything, amazing. Waugh and Bell take on Ralph and sound like Mother Jones, like the workers, they are Mad As Hell.

Looks like Ralph and the boys blew this one big time...especially with the Human Resources Minister claiming to take a hands off approach to this strike, except of course to sic his Labour Relations Board puppies on the workers, while leaving Tysons free to make a bad situation worse with their scabbing.

Which as of today they have temporarily stopped, having shut down the Brooks plant operation for the weekend. And if the strike succeeds Tyson said it may have to divert cattle to U.S. plants in Washington state and Idaho if it cannot run the Alberta plant. It's called whipsawing, threatening to leave to pressure the government. And these guys would do it to with all that cool Alberta Government cash in their pockets.

And I am not the only one who has called on the union to ignore the Labour Relations Board ruling. Something Rotten at the Alberta Labor Relations Board

This isn't just a strike forced on the largely immigrant workforce at Lakeside Packers by Tyson's but by Ralph's gang in the Legislature, with the quiet support of their Federal Counterparts the Harper Conservatives.

Since this is Conservative MP Monte Solbergs riding, and he was off in Las Vegas as all hell broke loose at Lakeside Packers this week. When he finally blogged today it was about using whale oil as an alternative fuel...yep he praised whale hunting while ignoring the mess Tyson's has made in his riding. Talk about being out of touch. Well he is in good company.


Ralph ducks By RICK BELL, CALGARY SUN, Thursday, October 13
Doug O'Halloran, the union president, makes a last effort to persuade the man of the people. Doug asks Ralph to "require the parties to submit their differences to the process of binding arbitration. Leadership demands a balancing of everyone's interests." Of course, Doug knows the bitter truth. Tyson doesn't want a deal because Tyson doesn't want a union. And Tyson runs Ralph -- not the other way around.

Ouch, and it just gets better.....



From hero to zero
Ralph goes from prosperity popularity to part of Tory-concocted strike at Brooks
By NEIL WAUGH, EDMONTON SUN, Thursday, Oct. 13
An aloof and disconnected provincial Tory government, a made-for-TV labour dispute which pits downtrodden workers against a big, bad meat packer. And a premier surrounded by B-team cabinet ministers who freeze up like a Lada at 40 below. Add an even more ironic twist - unlike the politically naive Don Getty who spent most of his dismal time in the premier's office hiding out from Albertans - Ralph Klein has finally rediscovered his populism (through his $400 rebate cheques) after three years of political drifting. Even though the suits blasted him. Finance Minister Shirley McClellan announced details of Ralphbucks on Tuesday, and the premier was a genuine Alberta hero. Less than 24 hours later, Ralph went from hero to zero as the Tory-concocted strike at Lakeside Packers began. A skirmish broke out at the plant gate when Arkansas-based Tyson Foods tried to bust the picket line with two buses loaded with "Green Hats" - the name the boys and girls on the line have given plant management. Windows were broken. The buses turned back. Film at six. And a repeat of the images of the 1986 Battle of 66 Street when United Food and Commercial Workers fought with Edmonton police in front of Peter Pocklington's Gainers plant. The PCs already picked winners and losers with Shirley McClellan's deeply-flawed BSE bailout which saw the province's two multinational packers and the big feedlot corporations take most of the millions that was supposed to trickle down to cow/calf operators. Provincial Auditor General Fred (Get 'er) Dunn revealed that packer profits soared 281% after the border was closed to Alberta beef and the mad cow money kicked in. When the border swung open in July, UFCW Local 401 was poised to strike - disrupting the beef trade again. But the Tories struck first, appointing a disputes inquiry board. Union members overwhelmingly accepted the findings. Tyson rejected it almost out of hand. Thus the strike. This week, Local 401 boss Doug O'Halloran tried to appeal to the province's newly resurrected No. 1 People Person. In a letter to the preem he talked about the other side of Klein's Alberta Advantage where "an employer often requires them to work without pay and stand in their own urine." He talked of a "workforce of good and decent, hard-working people. Many are immigrants or transplants from other parts of Canada pursuing the Alberta dream," Doug informed Ralph. In 1989, Edmontonians were so turned off by Getty's handling of the Gainers strike that they drove the Tories from the capital. Don lost his seat.

And better........

Unequal fight-This is a case in which Goliath is backed up by government
By RICK BELL, CALGARY SUN, Friday October 14
This is a strike where the provincial government still sits on its butt watching all hell begin to break loose. This day Tyson acts as they do every day, knowing they hold all the cards worth holding. They have all the economic edge, some it gained piling up profits during our mad cow mess while pocketing $32.9 million from the Alberta taxpayer in mad cow aid. They hold all the legal advantages. Alberta, unlike most other provinces, doesn't have a system in place for imposing a settlement when a union bargains for its first contract and the workers cannot get an agreement. The province's Labour Relations Board is ... how shall I say this tactfully ... company-friendly. Tyson wants the provincial board to tell the workers to step aside and let buses run into the plant while limiting the number of pickets. Bingo. Meanwhile, Ralph and the boys in Edmonton do what Tyson wants. Tyson wants this strike called off in the summer. The province calls it off. Tyson rejects a deal worked out by the province's own appointee, an agreement overwhelmingly accepted by the union. No problem. Tyson doesn't want the province to get involved as they did in July. Done. Mr. Tyson, what else would you like us to fetch?

And then Neil Waugh exposes the real reason for Tysons forcing the strike....The yankees are robbing the bank of Alberta with profits from government subsidies to support their operations south of the border and oh yes Don Tysons lavish lifestyle, which he failed to report to share holder or the SEC.....

Strange bedfellows By Neil Waugh, Edmonton Sun, Fri, October 14, 2005
Tyson was a major winner in former agriculture minister Shirley McClellan's BSE bingo when the U.S. border was closed to Alberta beef.The workers on the line now believe that the 60-day strike delay forced by the Tories was intended to allow Tyson to get its ducks in a row to break the union. The company summarily rejected the compromise offer that the government's mediator negotiated. But even more disturbing is the loan document filed with the SEC on Sept. 28 while the Alberta Tories were going through their mediation charade. It revealed an unsecured three-year loan agreement for Lakeside Farm Industries (the holding company for Tyson's Brooks plant and adjacent feedlot) for $352.9 million. It's guaranteed by Tyson and would appear to require a serious chunk of cash flow to service. Maybe that's why Ralph's new American friends are so reluctant to give an inch on a union contract when Lakeside not only appears to be a cash cow, but a valuable asset to raise money.Then there's the April 28 "settled enforcement" with the SEC where former chairman and current director Don Tyson and the company agreed to pay $2.2 million US for "misleading disclosures" over Don's benefits and perks. The SEC probe found Tyson and his two unidentified cronies ran up $689,016 US in oriental rugs, antiques and London vacations. There was also the boat and mansion at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. And the house in the English countryside. Plus a whole list of other personal frills including lawn care, maintenance on nine autos and housekeeping at five houses that Tyson shareholders paid for without being properly told about in proxy notices. With friends like these, who needs enemies?


This is a strike by mainly immigrant workers. Both the Alberta and Federal Government agree that we need more immigrant workers.... Migrants needed to bolster workforce: Pettigrew....as it is now it will be to be exploited as cheap labour as the Fraser Institute recomends and Tysons Lakeside Packers is proving in practice.

Alberta needs workers

Alberta will increase immigration and bolster apprentice training to deal with a projected shortfall of more than 100,000 workers over the next decade.

With $107-billion in capital projects on the drawing board, political and industry leaders said Tuesday they want to ensure that the province's red-hot economy continues to roar.

The government plan includes a policy to seek immigrants and help them make the transition to live and work in the province, Economic Development Minister Clint Dunford said.

“Expanding our provincial nominee program will help Alberta employers attract and recruit skilled foreign workers to fill positions that could not be filled across Canada after extensive searching,” Dunford said.

While the labour shortage is most acute in Alberta because of its booming energy sector, including oilsands projects in the Fort McMurray area, other provinces are feeling the pinch for skilled and unskilled workers.

Business groups such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have been calling on the federal government to devise a national plan to deal with the problem.

Federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has suggested Ottawa may raise Canada's immigration levels by up to 40 per cent over the next five years.

Earlier this year trade unions opposed a government program that brought in temporary foreign workers to help in Alberta's oil sands.

Labour leaders were still a little skeptical Tuesday.

“Is this really about immigrants or helping business get better access to cheap labour?” questioned Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

“We are not convinced the provincial government has done enough to help groups of workers here in Alberta who could be trained to fill some of these trades jobs.”

Immigrants finding jobs in Canada, just not the ones they want

The Tysons battle is the same old battle that all Immigrants to Canada have faced, low wage exploitation, which is why we have unions and why immigrants have been the backbone of Canada's labour movement.

Like the Gainers strike this is a battle of David versus Goliath, and David for once is getting support from Goliath's media buddies.

POST COVID-19 ROBOTS ARE COMING FOR TYSON JOBS

Tyson Foods names new CEO as coronavirus raises costs

Banks, a former executive at Google-parent Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) experimental research division, will help the company integrate more technology into operations

(Reuters) - Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N) named its president, Dean Banks, as its new chief executive on Monday as the meatpacker faces unprecedented disruptions from the COVID-19 outbreak.

FILE PHOTO: Tyson Foods brand frozen chicken wings are pictured in a grocery store freezer in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

Tyson said Banks will replace 37-year company veteran Noel White in October as it reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales. The company predicted the pandemic will increase operating costs and hinder sales volumes into next year.

Uncertainty over the reopening of the economy confronts Banks, who joined Tyson’s board in 2017 and became president in December 2019.

Tyson Foods wants China to lift ban on U.S. plant with COVID-19 cases

Chairman John Tyson said Banks, a former executive at Google-parent Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) experimental research division, will help the company integrate more technology into operations and focus on employee health.

The novel coronavirus has infected thousands of U.S. meatpacking workers and led to temporary meat shortages as processors like Tyson, JBS (JBSS3.SA) and Smithfield Foods [SFII.UL] closed slaughterhouses in April and May. Plants have reopened, but absences among workers who are afraid of getting sick continue to limit output.
Tyson said it faces reduced demand from restaurants and food-service outlets that has not been offset by stronger meat sales at grocers. The company predicted its chicken and prepared foods segments will suffer lower sales volumes in the last fiscal quarter.


In the third quarter ended June 27, Tyson’s chicken unit reported an adjusted operating loss of $120 million, compared with income of $237 million a year earlier.

“Our level of future growth is dependent on away-from-home eating occasions, which will be impacted by communities opening up and potentially reclosing,” White told analysts on a call.

JP Morgan said it expected the leadership change, although it may spook some investors. Shares were up about 1%.

Tyson’s quarterly sales fell to $10.02 billion from $10.89 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $10.56 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.


Excluding items, Tyson earned $1.40 per share, beating analysts’ estimates for 94 cents.

Tyson said direct costs related to COVID-19 were about $340 million, including employee testing and personal protective equipment.


Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Steve Orlofsky

Revealed: Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into US rivers and lakes


Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide among the 371m lb of pollutants released by just 41 plants in five years


Nina Lakhani in Dakota City and Lexington, Nebraska. 

Graphics by Alvin Chang

Tue 30 Apr 2024 

THE GUARDIAN

Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.

GRAPHIC

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/06f8f332af7ca1b6cbc3e35cb7f2bfe85713ebb7/0_0_2640_2640/master/2640.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none

According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.

The wastewater was enough to fill about 132,000 Olympic-size pools, according to a Guardian analysis.

The water pollution from Tyson, a Fortune 100 company and the world’s second largest meat producer, was spread across 17 states but about half the contaminants were dumped into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands in Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.

The midwest is already saturated with nitrogen and phosphorus from industrial agriculture – factory farms and synthetics fertilizers – contributing to algal blooms that clog critical water infrastructure, exacerbate respiratory conditions like asthma, and deplete oxygen levels in the sea causing marine life to suffocate and die.

Yet the UCS research is only the tip of iceberg, including water pollution from only one in three of the corporation’s slaughterhouses and processing plants, and only 2% of the total nationwide.

The current federal regulations set no limit for phosphorus, and the vast majority of meat processing plants in the US are exempt from existing water regulations – with no way of tracking how many toxins are being dumped into waterways.

“There are over 5,000 meat and poultry processing plants in the United States, but only a fraction are required to report pollution and abide by limits. As one of the largest processors in the game, with a near-monopoly in some states, Tyson is in a unique position to treat even hefty fines and penalties for polluting as simply the cost of doing business. This has to change,” said the UCS co-author Omanjana Goswami.

The findings come as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must decide between robust new regulations that experts say would better protect waterways, critical habitat and downstream communities from polluting plants – or opt for weaker standards preferred by the powerful meat-processing industry.
The EPA should listen to communities whose wells, lakes, rivers and streams have been contaminated and put people over corporate profitsOmanjana Goswami

A 2017 lawsuit by environmental groups has forced the EPA to update its two-decade-old pollution standards for slaughterhouses and animal rendering facilities, and the new rule is expected by September 2025. The agency has said that it is leaning towards the weakest option on the table, which critics say will enable huge amounts of nitrates, phosphorus and other contaminants to keep pouring into waterways.

“The current rule is out of date, inadequate and catastrophic for American waterways, and highlights the way American lawmaking is subject to industry capture,” said Dani Replogle, an attorney at Food and Water Watch. “The nutrient problem in the US is at catastrophic levels … it would be such a shame if the EPA caves in to industry influence.”

The meat-processing industry spent $4.3m on lobbying in Washington in 2023, of which Tyson accounted for almost half ($2.1m), according to political finance watchdog Open Secrets. The industry has made $6.6m in campaign donations since 2020, mostly to Republicans, with Tyson the biggest corporate spender.

“We can be sure Tyson and other big ag players will object to efforts to update pollution regulations, but the EPA should listen to communities whose wells, lakes, rivers and streams have been contaminated and put people over corporate profits,” said Goswami.

“Meat and poultry companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with EPA’s effluent limitations guidelines,” said Sarah Little from the North American Meat Institute, a trade association representing large processors like Tyson. “EPA’s new proposed guidelines will cost over $1bn and will eliminate 100,000 jobs in rural communities.”

Tyson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The American Association of Meat Processors said the EPA’s one-size-fits-all approach could put its small, family-owned members out of business.


Nebraska is a sparsely populated rural state dominated by agriculture – an increasingly consolidated corporate industry which wields substantial control over the economy and politics, as well as land and water use.

Millions of acres in Nebraska are dedicated to factory farming, with massive methane-emitting concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos) scattered among fields of monocropped soybean, corn and wheat – grown predominantly for animal feed and ethanol. Only a tiny fraction of arable land is dedicated to sustainable agriculture or used to grow vegetables or fruits.

Tyson’s five largest plants in Nebraska dumped more than 111m lb of pollutants into waterways between 2018 and 2022, accounting for a third of the nationwide total. This included 4m lb of nitrates – a chemical that can contaminate drinking water, cause blood disorders and neurological defects in infants, as well as cancers and thyroid disease in adults.

Tyson’s largest plant is located in Dakota City on the Missouri river – America’s longest waterway which stretches 2,300 miles across eight states before joining the Mississippi. It’s a sprawling beef facility, which generates a nauseating stench that wafts over neighboring South Sioux city, known locally as sewer city, where many plant workers live. (Another beef processing plant is located next to Tyson.)

Earlier this month, the Guardian saw multiple trucks waiting to offload cattle for slaughter – after which the carcasses are rendered, processed and packaged in different parts of the facility. The plant produces vast quantities of wastewater which is stored (and treated) in lagoons on the riverbank, before being released into the Missouri river which provides drinking water for millions of people.

The Dakota City plant is a major local employer and Tyson’s single largest polluter, dumping 60m lb of contaminants into waterways between 2018 and 2022, according to UCS analysis.

View image in fullscreen

Every year in November around 30,000 Sandhill Cranes begin their annual migration from the North Platte River in Nebraska to Southern Arizona. Photograph: Christopher Brown/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

“This Tyson plant helped put me through college and supports a lot of migrant workers, but there’s a dark side like the water and air pollution that most people don’t pay attention to because they’re just trying to survive,” said Rogelio Rodriguez, a grassroots organizer with Conservation Nebraska, which is part of a coalition pushing for stronger state protections for meat processing plant workers.

“If regulations are lax, corporations have a tendency to push limits to maximize profits, we learnt that during Covid,” said Rodriguez, whose family works at the plant. A deadly Covid outbreak at the Dakota City plant in April 2020 sickened 15% of the workforce and led to substantial community spread.

A few miles south of the Dakota City Tyson plant, the Winnebago tribe is slowly recuperating and reforesting their land, as well as transitioning to organic farming.

“We’re investing a lot of money to look after the water and soil on our lands because it’s the right thing to do, yet a few miles north the Tyson plant lets all this pollution go into the river. Water is our most important resource, and the Missouri river is very important to our culture and people,” said Aaron LaPointe, a Winnebago tribe member who runs Ho-Chunk Farms.

The water problem – and lack of accountability – goes beyond Tyson.

Last year Governor Jim Pillen, whose family owns one of America’s largest pork companies, was widely criticized for calling a Chinese-born journalist at Flatwater Free Press a “communist” after she exposed serious water quality violations at his hog farms. Earlier this month, the Nebraska supreme court ruled that the state environmental agency could charge the same investigative news outlet tens of thousands of dollars for a public records request about nitrates.

Big ag’s influence on state politics is “endemic”, according to Gavin Geis from Common Cause Nebraska, a non-partisan elections watchdog.


We found unhealthy pesticide levels in 20% of US produce – here’s what you need to know

“The big money spent on lobbying and campaigns by corporate agriculture has played a major role in resisting stronger regulation – despite clear signals such as high levels of nitrates in our groundwater and cancers in rural communities that we need more oversight for farmers across the board,” said Geis.

“We’ve created a system with no accountability that doesn’t protect our ecosystem – which includes the land, water and people of Nebraska,” said Graham Christensen, a regenerative farmer and founder of GC Resolve, a communication and consulting firm. “The political capture is harming our rural communities, we’re in the belly of the beast and need help from federal regulators.”


Indigenous Americans lived and farmed sustainably along the Missouri River until white colonial settlers forcibly displaced tribes, and eventually dammed the entire river system – mostly for energy and industrial agriculture. Today, major river systems like the Missouri River – and its communities – face multiple, overlapping threats from dams, the climate crisis, overuse and pollution.

Oxygen depleting contaminants like nitrogen and phosphorus from Tyson plants in the midwest have been shown to travel along river-to-river pathways, causing fish kills and contributing to dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. When the river is drier due to drought or high temperatures, pollutants become more concentrated and can form sediments – which are then dislodged during floods and taken miles downstream.

Global heating is making extreme weather increasingly common, and as droughts dry up underground aquifers, tribes will probably need to turn to the Missouri for drinking water, according to Tim Grant, director of environmental protection for the Omaha tribe. “We’re very concerned about what’s in the river, it’s an important part of our culture and traditions,” said Grant, who has started testing the fish for toxins.

The UCS research also found Tyson plants located close to critical habitats for endangered or threatened species – including the whooping crane, the tallest and among the rarest birds in North America.

There are currently only 500 or so wild whooping cranes – up from 20 birds in the 1940s – which stop to feed and rest along a shallow stretch of the Platte River, a tributary of the Missouri in central Nebraska, as they migrate between the Texas Gulf coast and Canada. The majestic white birds feed in the cornfields that surround the Platte River, outnumbered by the slate gray sandhill cranes that also migrate through Nebraska each spring.

Tyson’s sprawling Lexington slaughterhouse and beef processing plant is situated less than two miles from the Platte River – among four federally designated critical habitats considered essential to conservation of the whooping crane.

“The cumulative effects of exposure to these industrial toxins could pose a long-term threat to the cranes’ food sources, reproductive success and resilience as a species,” said George Cunningham, a retired aquatic ecologist and Missouri River expert at Sierra Club Nebraska.

“Poor environmental regulation is down to the stranglehold industrial agriculture has on politics – at every level. It’s about political capture.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson says “Moonfall” beats “Armageddon” in violating more laws of physics per minute

Emlyn Travis
Fri, September 22, 2023 

Neil deGrasse Tyson isn't exactly over the moon with how the laws of physics are being applied in modern-day filmmaking.

For years the persnickety astrophysicist has adamantly argued that the 1998 blockbuster Armageddon — which saw Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck stop an asteroid from crashing into Earth with a big drill and a nuclear bomb — had earned the not-so-coveted title of violating "more laws of physics (per minute) than any other film in the universe." But now he's passing the crown to another movie that he says is even less scientifically accurate.

"That's what I thought until I saw Moonfall," Tyson admitted on Thursday's episode of The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM. "It was a pandemic film that came out — you know, Halle Berry — and the moon is approaching Earth, and they learned that it's hollow."

"I just couldn't," Tyson said, placing his hands on his temples. "So I said, 'All right, I thought Armageddon had a secure hold on this crown, but apparently not.'"

Written and directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow), Moonfall follows former astronauts Jocinda Fowler (Berry) and Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), plus conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley), as they attempt to defend Earth from the rapidly approaching moon and the murderous aliens inhabiting it.

Halle Berry in 'Moonfall'

Tyson, the author of such books as Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and Death by Black Hole, went on to say that in the case of both Armageddon and Moonfall, there's actually a pretty simple solution for dealing with a projectile hurtling toward Earth.

"All you gotta do is just nudge it," he said. "If you nudge it like 1 centimeter per second to the right — in space there's no friction, so it'll just keep drifting to the right. If you do that early enough, then you can have the asteroid pass in front of the Earth rather than hit the Earth, or you can slow it down so that it'll pass behind the Earth. Two ways you can adjust it."

He compared the outlandish cinematic methods to remedy the problem to the temporal paradox of the Terminator movies, wherein "I want to kill your parents so that you're never born."

"Really?" an exasperated Tyson said. "All you have to do is prevent your parents from meeting each other, or have them have sex 20 minutes later than the other one. That will create a different zygote and you won't be born. So the movies, in some cases… they get hyperbolic on their solutions to problems."

If Tyson's synopsis wasn't enough to raise eyebrows, he further explained that the 2022 movie reveals there's a "moon being made out of rocks" inside the hollowed-out moon, and "the Apollo missions were really to feed" the creature rather than taking one giant leap for mankind.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has a new favorite sci-fi movie to complain about

William Hughes

AV CLUB
Sat, September 23, 2023 

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Although he fulfills other roles in our society—TV host, talk show guest, some actual astrophysics, presumably, at some point—Neil deGrasse Tyson largely exists to fill one major niche these days: Pedant. There must (apparently) be one person willing to stand up in front of the masses and point out when a science fiction movie does not space correctly, and that self-appointed job has fallen to him. It is not an easy road, nor a pleasant one, or even one anyone particularly wants him to walk. But it’s his, nevertheless, relentlessly informing audiences of every potential inaccuracy, and passing judgment—as he did in a recent interview, when he revealed that 2022's Moonfall has stolen Armageddon’s crown as the least accurate space movie he’s ever seen.

Y’all remember Moonfall, right? Roland Emmerich flick; Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Sam from Game Of Thrones; moon is hollow? It came and went from theaters with a quickness, with its only real hype coming from an aggressively goofy trailer. But Neil deGrasse Tyson remembers, stating (per Deadline) in a recent interview that, “I thought Armageddon had a secure hold on this crown,” (i.e., “violating more laws of physics per minute than any other film ever made”), “But apparently not.”



Neil DeGrasse Tyson Claims ‘Armageddon’ Has Been Dethroned As Film Violating Most Laws Of Physics
Nellie Andreeva and Bruce Haring
Fri, September 22, 2023 at 5:52 PM MDT·2 min read

5


Armageddon‘s quarter-century reign as the Hollywood movie running afoul of the most physics laws is over. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson made the revelation during an interview on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show to promote his new book, To Infinity and Beyond, highlighting glaring scientific inaccuracies in another space film, the 2022 Moonfall starring Halle Berry.

“Armageddon, you say, violates more laws of physics per minute than any other film ever made,” Cagle began.

‘Moonfall’

DeGrasse Tyson agreed, adding, “That’s what I thought until I saw Moonfall. It was a pandemic film that came out, you know, Halle Berry, and the moon is approaching Earth, and they learned that it’s hollow and there’s a moon being made out of rocks living inside of it and the Apollo missions were really to visit, to feed the moon being, and I just couldn’t, so I said, “Alright, I thought Armageddon had a secure hold on this crown, but apparently not.”

Cagle brought up previous suggestion by deGrasse Tyson that, unlike the plot in Armageddon, there is a much simpler way to throw an asteroid off its path. He elaborated on that while also making a Terminator reference.

Moonfall

“All you gotta do is just nudge it, and if you do that early enough, if you nudge it like one centimeter per second to the right, in space, there’s no friction, so it’ll just keep drifting to the right,” he said. “If you do that early enough, then you can have the asteroid pass in front of the earth rather than hit the earth, or you can slow it down so that it’ll pass behind the earth. Two ways you can adjust it. So, yeah. You know what it’s like? It’s like The Terminator thing where I want to kill your parents so that you’re never born. Really? All you have to do is prevent your parents from meeting each other or have them have sex 20 minutes later than the other one. That will create a different zygote and you won’t be born, so the movies go, in some cases, they get hyperbolic on their solutions to problems.”

‘Moonfall’

Co-written, directed, and produced by Roland Emmerich, Moonfall follows two former astronauts (Berry, Patrick Wilson) alongside a conspiracy theorist (John Bradley) who discover the hidden truth about Earth’s moon when it suddenly leaves its orbit.

The film, released in January 2022, was a boxoffice flop.

• You can watch a trailer below