COVID-19 has been brutal on the industry. We have seen major producers temporarily shut down, entire segments put out of business, regional disruptions and politicians getting involved in the manufacture and distribution of meat and poultry. I am not telling you anything you don’t know; we have all lived it.
There have been some silver linings, though. By implementing virus controls to protect our employees, we have also inadvertently implemented controls that have a positive impact on the control of norovirus, hepatitis A, etc. And our small producers were able to dramatically increase production and harvest volumes to help offset larger production shortages. While most were regional, the impact of small to midsize operators was greatest. A 20-person shop in a town of 30,000 operating as the sole supplier of ground beef became a pretty amazing place to be.