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Tyson Foods recorded double-digit increases in profits and sales last quarter. Aren't meatpackers feeling inflation, too?
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Biden administration pledges $1 billion to help small meatpackers compete

Jan 4, 2022
Just four companies process the lion's share of meat. Critics say that means high prices for consumers and low prices for ranchers.
Though the aid is meant to help smaller meatpackers expand their processing capacity, the industry is hampered by a shortage of workers.
Brent Stirton via Getty Images

A boon for local butchers is a hurdle for hunters

Dec 27, 2021
Flush with demand, meat processors are walking away from wild game.
Northwest Premium Meats in Idaho. Manager Elliott Tolbert says he's seen strong demand for butchering services, but processing wild game isn't always worth the effort.
Madelyn Beck/Mountain West News Bureau

Once a bargain buy, brisket now demands top dollar

Oct 18, 2021
Some believe brisket's move up the popularity chain began a little more than a decade ago.
Brisket wasn't always the most popular choice, but it sells high these days.

It's time to reform the meatpacking industry, farmers say

Jun 22, 2021
Representatives are pushing for an overhaul of the $213 billion sector, to be discussed during a committee hearing Wednesday.
Retail meat prices have remained high since the pandemic after many plants became virus hot spots and reduced capacity.
Brent Stirton via Getty Images

Beef market still feeling the effects of COVID-19

Dec 29, 2020
Disruptions weren't as bad as they might have been. But some consumer practices have changed because of the pandemic.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Tyson Foods appoints new CEO while meat industry struggles with continued COVID-19 challenges

Aug 4, 2020
The industry has had to change how it prepares products, pivoting from places like restaurants and arenas to grocery stores.
Food companies like Tyson have not been able to make up all of the ground they lost during the pandemic through grocery store sales.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Small, local meat producers see uptick in demand

May 19, 2020
Local producers are seeing an increase in online and over-the-counter sales.
Some small- to mid-sized ranchers are seeing the demand for local meat spike.
Laura Palmisano

U.S. meat is increasingly being shipped to China, Reuters analysis shows

Pork supplies are down about 40% since mid-March in the U.S., but pork shipments to China have quadrupled in that same time period.
Smithfield, which is now owned by a Chinese firm, was the biggest exporter of American pork to China in the first quarter.
Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

COVID-19 exposes U.S. meat supply's dependence on a few large plants

May 6, 2020
Shutting down just one or two of those plants can take out 10% of the meat supply.
At a New Seasons Market grocery store in Portland, Oregon, customers’ meat purchases are now limited to preserve adequate supplies.
Mitchell Hartman/Marketplace