Big beef has bounced back after first devastating outbreaks, but threat of second wave still looms
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“I don’t think anyone was immune to this and so we’ve worked really hard with our employees, ranchers, producers, our customers … to make sure we’re able to continue to feed people in Canada.”
Cargill, headquartered in Minneapolis, is a meat-processing giant that owns two of Canada’s three largest packing plants — the other one is owned by JBS USA. Together, the three plants process more than 85 per cent of the country’s beef supply.
High River is the largest of Cargill’s two facilities, employing 2,000 people and processing 4,700 heads of cattle a day. By comparison, its plant in Guelph, Ont., employs 1,700 and processes just under 2,000 heads of cattle a day.
Once the decision was made to shut down the High River plant in April, officials at Cargill immediately began implementing protocols and retrofitting the facility to stem any spread of the virus.
The company provided buses with dividers to pick up employees who would normally carpool to work. It enforced screening questions and temperature checks. It expanded the break rooms, putting up plexiglass dividers there and in washrooms and locker rooms, too.
To make up for lost capacity during the High River shutdown, the company ran Saturday shifts at the Guelph plant. When employees returned, Saturday shifts were also implemented to deal with the backlog of cattle on feedlots.
Cognizant of the pressures the backlog had on the system, and subsequently on prices at the grocery store, industry stakeholders began regularly convening every Monday to share any information that could stabilize the supply chain, said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president at the Canadian Cattlemen’s association.
