In recent earnings calls, shareholders of some publicly traded meat companies asked whether the Trump administration's deportation plans — among other issues — could pose a challenge to their industry. “We have been there before. It has no impact on our business,” said Tim Klein, CEO of National Beef, which is owned by Brazilian food company Marfrig. Question from a shareholderIn response to a similar question Tyson Foods Earnings CallCEO Donnie King said, “There's a lot we don't know at this point, but I would remind you that we have operated this business successfully for over 90 years, regardless of which party is in control.”
It is unclear whether the Trump regime will target meatpacking facilities operated by the industry's largest companies, given that these companies received favorable treatment at times during Trump's first presidency. During the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump issued an executive order that allowed keep the plant runningEven the meatpackers had some of these most affected by infectionThe US House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis later found that Tyson's legal department had drafted a text proposed order,
“These large meatpacking companies prevented additional protections to protect workers, partly by colluding with political officials of the Trump administration to protect themselves from oversight, forcing workers to live in dangerous conditions, and in part to protect themselves.” responsibility for any resulting employee illness or death,” the committee concluded. in the report Released in December 2022.
Labor is in short supply at meatpacking plants and the agriculture industry as a whole, says Cesar Escalante, a professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. Escalante says the industry needs more workers, arguing that the US should expand the H-2A seasonal agricultural worker visa scheme to include more livestock workers. Escalante says smaller farms are more likely to be affected by labor shortages, while larger farms may move toward mechanization.
If meatpacking workers are deported en masse, it could lead to higher prices for consumers. a report from Texas A&M AgriLife Research It is estimated that eliminating immigrant labor on American dairy farms would nearly double retail milk prices. It's unclear what impact Trump's deportation plan will have on meat or food prices generally, as so much is unknown about the plan. “We don’t know yet how this will all play out,” says Hubbard.