USDA allows Clemens to speed up production
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service added Clemens Food Group pork packing plant in Coldwater to plants allowed to run faster line speeds under a one-year trial program.
The plant joins three others running at faster speeds. Experts expect this could increase packing capacity and alleviate supply issues due to strong pork demand.
The line speed increase came in an agreement with the companies after all packers were forced to operate at line speeds that do not exceed 1,106 head per hour.
U.S. District Court of Minnesota threw out a Trump administration attempt to eliminate line speed. The court ruled USDA did not adequately consider the impact of the increased slaughter speed on worker safety.
Food Safety and Inspection Service, along with Occupational Safety and Health Administration, announced the development of a time-limited trial of line speeds.
The trials included are Clemens plants in Coldwater and Hatfield, Pa., along with Quality Pork Processors, Austin, Minn., and Wholestone Farms Cooperative, Fremont, Neb. Those plants must implement worker safety measures included in an agreement with the workers' union or, in the case of Clemens, worker safety committees representing their employees.
The plants were allowed to join the program to gather data to develop a new regulation setting faster maximum line speeds. The New Swine Inspection System will determine the safe and most effective speeds for line operation,
National Pork Producers Council lobbied to get plants back to faster speeds after the court decision required the rollback to previous limits.
The reduction cut back pork production. If all six plants eligible for the program increase hog harvest, that could result in up to 4% more pork in the market.
Federal data showed a 6.6% drop in hog production from March 2021 to March 2022. With fewer hogs processed at the current production capacity, the increase in production is expected to raise hog prices for farmers.
Prices are up, but so are costs. National Pork Producers Council said yearly expense to produce hogs in March rose 23.9%, while feed cost alone rose 35.5%.
Holly Cook, an NPPC staff economist, said hog farmers now see the highest average production costs since 2014. Break-even levels are now over $80 per hundredweight.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: USDA allows Clemens to speed up production
