Tyson Foods Chairman John Tyson took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to publish an open letter warning that our food supply chain is in trouble.
Tyson explained that many food processing plants across the country have been forced to pause or reduce operations during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure the safety of the workers.
"As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain," Tyson wrote. "As a result, there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed."
Another issue with the closures is that ranchers have no place to sell their livestock.
"In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue," Tyson wrote. "Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation. Millions of animals – chickens, pigs and cattle – will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities. The food supply chain is breaking."
Tyson called for a unified solution to help protect workers and the food supply chain, and said he is confident we can solve these problems.
"Tyson Foods has a responsibility to feed our nation and the world. The government bodies at the national, state, county, and city levels must unite in a comprehensive, thoughtful, and productive way to allow our team members to work in safety without fear, panic, or worry. The private and public sectors must come together. As a country, this is our time to show the world what we can do when working together."
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