The news that I see on the television and internet, and the news that I hear about as a part of my job, have never been more divergent. When I’m at work, and I get to talk with or exchange emails with small processors that have seen exceptional growth this year. They’ve managed to adjust to the realities of a post-Coronavirus world and have made the necessary changes to their operations and business models.
Then I look at Twitter or read the latest headlines elsewhere, and I hear a completely different story about the meat processing industry. Massive COVID outbreaks. Worker deaths. Consumer anger. It’s a really different world. That anger may lead to some serious blowback against the meat industry as a whole. The question that needs to be asked is, are people upset at the meat industry in general, or are they upset at the handful of companies that keep ending up in the headlines?