Tyson plants in Noel, Dexter will close, but communities are hopeful for future

Two dreaded dates are fast approaching for the southern Missouri towns of Dexter and Noel.

In Dexter, located near the Bootheel in the southeast corner of the state, that date is Oct. 13. For Noel, positioned in the southwest corner near Arkansas and Oklahoma, it is Oct. 20.

Those dates represent the planned closures of two Tyson chicken processing plants. The meat processing company announced intentions to close the plants, plus facilities in North Little Rock, Arkansas and Corydon, Indiana, in August.

After a lean earnings report, the company decided to trim expenses by closing four of its older facilities. According to city officials, they only had a few hours notice of this decision before the company broke the news to employees and news organizations.

“They had a spokesperson that called me at 6:30 p.m. at night on a Sunday, and then 8 a.m. the next morning on Monday is when they told their employees,” said Dexter City Administrator Dan Wyman.

Since then, the company has reached out a handful of times to explain the next steps, but has since broken off contact with city officials, even when they’ve called about the potential of the town purchasing the facility until a new company takes ownership.

“It has been several weeks since we have heard anything from the Tyson Corporation,” Wyman said.

Tyson Foods did not respond to requests for comment.

A long history in the poultry production industry

Noel and Dexter have been home to poultry processing plants for many years, although Noel’s tenure hosting the facility is far shorter. Tyson purchased the location in the 1990s, which had previously been home to Ralston Purina, then Hudson Foods.

The Noel plant employs about 1,500 people. Almost 600 of those employees have a Noel zip code, but the town itself has a population of just over 2,100.

“Unless something unforeseen happens, we're in for at least a couple of pretty lean years. Depending on how things work, we could lose up to 20% or 25% of the population in the short term, and that's going to affect everyone,” said Noel Mayor Terry Lance.

Many of those who work in the plant immigrated to the U.S. from Latin America, Somalia and the Pacific Islands. Based on conversations with members of those communities, Lance expects some to leave town for work at another facility.

“We're probably going to lose most of the African community because for many of them, that's all they've done ever since they got here,” Lance said.

While Lance expects some of the community who immigrated from the Pacific Island to also leave, he feels that many members of the Hispanic communities living in Noel will stay.

“Most of them have been here long enough that they're a lot more settled into town,” Lance said. “But we're gonna lose enough people that it's gonna be an impact on all the local businesses for a short time.”

The town of Dexter, meanwhile, has been home to a poultry processing plant since the 1890s. The facility slated for closure has operated since the 1930s, when it was first opened by the Swift Poultry Co.

“We've had an active poultry production industry for 130 years,” Wyman said. “We are comfortable with it. We welcome it, and we have all of the surrounding infrastructure.”

According to Wyman, the plant employs about 800 people, with a combined payroll of about $40 million. Although not all of those workers live in Dexter, they are still a vital part of their economy.

“They spend some of their money here. They buy their gasoline here. They buy some groceries here and other things,” Wyman said. “So that's going to be a significant loss.”

But it’s not just the loss of local spending that will hurt Dexter. Given its long history in the poultry production industry, there is an entire business ecosystem that depends on a poultry processing plant to receive its goods and services.

Across multiple southeastern Missouri counties, chicken producers operate chicken houses to raise birds to be processed at the plant. Local farmers produce grains that are converted into chicken feed. Wyman even expects a local plumber’s business to take a hit.

“We've got a local plumber that invested $300,000 in a vacuum truck so that he could clean because he was spending so much time at the Tyson plant that he needed to upgrade his equipment,” Wyman said.

Some population loss is expected in Dexter as well, especially among Tyson employees who are nearing retirement. Wyman expects many of these workers to finish out their career at other facilities, but hopes that they will return to Dexter once they’re retired. Some have already indicated plans to retain ownership of their homes until then.

Others have already been scooped up by local businesses looking for workers. Although Tyson offered a $1,000 bonus to continue working until the plant closes on the 13th, many employees indicated they would be leaving once they found other work.

“Just by driving down there and looking at their parking lot, I can tell you that a large percentage of those employees have already gone elsewhere,” Wyman said.

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Missouri public officials intercede on behalf of Dexter and Noel

When news of the plant closures was first announced, a spokesperson for Tyson told Dexter officials that, according to company policy, they would not be interested in selling to a competitor.

“That was very heartbreaking news for us because, in total, the Tyson Corporation owns almost 100 acres in our town, and their complex is set up to process chicken,” Wyman said. “When you eliminate the companies that produce chicken as potential buyers, that of course causes some concern.”

However, this garnered the attention of Sen. Josh Hawley and Attorney General Andrew Bailey, both of whom pointed out this violates both state and federal antitrust laws.

“Missouri’s own antitrust laws are ‘construed in harmony with ruling judicial interpretations of comparable federal antitrust statutes,’” Bailey wrote in a letter to Tyson Food CEO Donnie King.

Hawley has since introduced antitrust legislation aimed at preventing monopolies in the meatpacking industry. The Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement for Meatpacking Act would amend the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 by setting specific thresholds for market saturation.

“Today's meatpacking monopolists are making massive profits while shutting down competition," Hawley said in a release. "Congress must give antitrust prosecutors the power to end anti-competitive behavior without lengthy court battles. It’s time to hold monopolies accountable and empower farmers."

This legislation received praise from cattle producer trade association R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America’s CEO Bill Bullard, who said his group “applauds Senator Hawley’s novel approach to addressing the untenable market concentrations faced by America’s cattle and sheep producers.”

With Tyson in his sights, Hawley sought assurances from its CEO that the company would sell these plants, even to a competitor.

He also addressed reports of child labor practices reported by the New York Times, informing CEO Donnie King that he would hold the company accountable if it continues its contracts with any plant found to be using child labor.

"I am alarmed by new reports that Tyson Foods has actively participated in dangerous and illegal child labor practices," Hawley said in a release. "Any company that employs, facilitates, encourages, or excuses child labor must be held to account. In light of the facts, you owe the American people an explanation as to Tyson’s child-labor practices.”

Although Hawley has expressed his desire to hold Tyson accountable on social media and in multiple press releases, Noel city officials said they haven’t talked to Hawley personally.

“I haven't heard from him,” said Lance, the Noel mayor.

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So what’s next for these Southern Missouri towns?

Officials in both towns report that there have been interested parties and rumors of investors touring the plants. Nothing is certain yet, except that both the plants will be closed by Tyson in the coming weeks.

For Dexter, with its local economy so well suited to producing and processing poultry, continuing that tradition would ensure that the local business ecosystem stays intact. In fact, if contact with Tyson remains elusive, city officials are open to the idea of the construction of a new processing plant in the area.

“We would still have the workforce, we would still have a supportive community and we still have all of that surrounding infrastructure in place,” Wyman said. “If a company wanted to come and build a new plant, we would love to speak to them and talk to them about that opportunity.”

In recent years, the town has looked at increasing its production past the capacity allowed by the current plant.

“Even before we got the notice that Tyson was closing, we were kind of poised to grow beyond where we were,” Wyman said. “So that's what I kind of tell everybody is, ‘Yes, we've lost the 800 (jobs), but we were actually poised to try to add more to that.’”

Noel may have a different approach in mind. The town, which calls itself the Christmas City and Canoeing Capital of the Ozarks, attracts a robust tourist population to its campgrounds near natural attractions.

Lance sees this as the opportunity for the city to grow beyond poultry processing and capitalize on its existing tourism attractions. While one potential investor envisioned the plant as a place to manufacture pontoon boats, another talked with Lance about leveling the production plant and turning it into a retail plaza similar to the Branson Landing.

“Of all the things I've heard, that's what I would most like to see because I've always felt like Noel’s best feature is its tourism,” Lance said.

In fact, the rural Missouri town may soon see increased traffic due to the planned construction of a $2 billion theme park in Vinita, Oklahoma, which is less than an hour away. The American Heartland Theme Park and Resort will open its lodging in 2025 and the associated amusement park in 2026.

Given the town’s natural attractions and business offerings from diverse communities living in Noel, Lance sees this as a good opportunity to switch gears and move away from poultry.

“We actually would like to have a different future than the past, in that respect,” Lance said. “We'd like to gear things more toward tourism. There's room to do that with what's happening over in Vinita, Oklahoma.”

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Southern Missouri communities prepare for Tyson plant closures