Small Beef-Packer Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence and Policy Implications

Authors

Azzeddine Azzam, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Sunil P. Dhoubadel, Prairie View A&M UniversityFollow
Binod Khanal, Prairie View A&M UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

11-20-2024

Document Type

Newsletter Issue

Citation

Cornhusker Economics (November 20, 2024)

Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

As part of a larger research project on the economics of beef supply chain resilience to natural disasters, financed in part by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, we obtained information from 289 processing plants across the United States about their operations during the peak COVID-19 period of March to June 2020 via a telephone survey. We collected data on plant type (slaughter, processing, both), the dominant livestock processed by the plant (predominantly beef, pork, poultry, and sheep/goat), plant capacity (maximum and typical capacity in slaughter head/day), age of establishment, and, whether the plant ceased, reduced, maintained, or increased slaughter during the COVID-19 pandemic.