It was announced last week that Tyson plans to shut down another food production facility—this time, a pork production plant in Perry, Iowa. That plant has nearly 1,300 employees and kills about 8,000 head a day.

“The market has not crumbled on this news. To me, that is supportive long-term.” 

That’s Karl Setzer with Consus Ag Consulting.

“It’s detrimental when you see a packing plant close to the local market and the community—and we probably are going to see a few others close and I feel bad for that, but the industry on a whole is going to absorb this rather quickly, I believe.” 

Setzer believes other packing plants across the U.S. will quickly pick up the slack once the Tyson pork plant in Iowa shuts down.

“We’re starting to see packers move their new facilities. They’re ramping up some facilities, and the shackle speed at some of these plants has been bumped up as well. We’ve seen some guidelines eased a little bit on some restrictions so we can put hogs through a little quicker. Plus, hog weights are just a little bit heavier.” 

Despite Tyson’s decision to close that pork plant, Setzer adds that the USDA’s recent World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) Report shows the forecasts for both pork production and pork exports have increased for 2024.

“When we go back to that WASDE report, the USDA average hog value for 2024 is estimated at $60.75 per head. That is up $2.16 on the year. So, the USDA anyway is a little bit more optimistic than some of the other data that we’re showing that would be detrimental for hog values.” 

The Tyson pork facility in Perry, Iowa is expected to close later this summer.