June 3, 2020 | Vol. 13 : No. 5
A world where families stayed home allowed them a chance to connect with rural families in a new way. Sports tournaments cancelled. Practices and recitals — even school itself — all put on hold as COVID-19 caused a shift in schedules and subsequent media consumption.
Before grocery store shelves were laid bare in the early days of the ongoing pandemic, food researcher Anne-Marie Roerink of 210 Analytics released findings from an annual study of meatcase trends and consumer behavior.
Underpinned by record production, U.S. pork exports completed a tremendous first quarter with new March records for volume and value, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Beef exports also trended higher year-over-year in March, establishing a record first-quarter pace.
The reduction of meat processing capacity caused by U.S. plant closures and slowdowns has created a bottleneck in the nation’s meat and livestock supply chain. Nearly two dozen plants that process beef and pork products closed in April due to the COVID-19 outbreak, while many others have had to slow their production as a result of the disease.
On April 28, 2020, President Trump invoked the Defense Protection Act to classify meat plants as essential infrastructure that must remain open. This act does not mean that slaughter and fabrication will return to pre-COVID-19 levels in the short term, as plants have had to slow production due to worker absenteeism, as well as greater distancing between employees on the line. For the week ending May 2, slaughter is estimated at 425,000 head, down 8.6% from a week earlier and 36.8% from the same period in 2019. Similar to cattle slaughter, beef production is down an estimated 8.3% from the week ending April 11, 2020, and 22.8% from the same period in 2019.
What is your favorite part of Angus Convention? Mine is meeting the cattlemen and women we have the opportunity to work with when they enroll in the Association’s value-added program, AngusLinkSM. Last year Jordan and Jennie Willis from Wyoming made the trek to Reno, Nev., to take in the educational programs during the Convention and meet Sarah Woods, commercial programs administrator.
