This article is my final must-read for the day. After a long history of consolidation — an inevitable trend in a massive, commoditized industry where margins are razor-thin and productivity reigns supreme — the bottleneck becomes the weakest link. 1/6
nytimes.com/2020/04/18/bus…
nytimes.com/2020/04/18/bus…
"After decades of consolidation, there are about 800 federally inspected slaughterhouses in the United States, processing billions of pounds of meat for food stores each year. But a relatively small number of them account for the vast majority of production." 2/6
"In the cattle industry, a little more than 50 plants are responsible for as much as 98 percent of slaughtering and processing in the US... Shutting down one plant, even for a few weeks, is like closing an airport hub. It backs up hog and beef production across the country." 3/6
"...[I]n reality, it may be difficult for any meat plant to accommodate social distancing and remain as profitable... 'It is not going to be easy to get workers six feet apart... If you space people out, you reduce productivity.'" 4/6
"'When you get to this kind of size, it increases risk,' said Ben Lilliston, who helps run the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy... 'When something goes wrong in a really big plant like this, you have a really big problem. These are vulnerable systems.'" 5/6
When food security is on the line, we can't afford to rely on such vulnerable systems. It's time to rebuild our food system on a solid foundation of more diversified alternatives to animal protein. It's time for a more resilient, robust, and safer solution. /end
