8 ms·

Tyson Foods takes out full-page ad: “The Supply Chain is Breaking”

63 points by vanusa 7y ago

burger_moon 7y ago
link without auto play video https://outline.com/qF7tdw https://outline.com/qF7tdw
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
If they want to tell Congress or someone that the supply chain is breaking, that's fine. But why a full-page ad? "To inform the public"? Or to panic the public into pressuring the government? If so, pressure them to do what? What's the motive for a full-page ad? Is it just "Don't blame us, we're doing all we can?" I don't know, but this seems unnecessarily alarmist for a PR exercise.
- tentboy 7y ago
  It also pretty much ensures a wave of panic buying.
  - gehwartzen 7y ago
    Which I suppose is what you would want to happen if you are forced to slaughter millions of animals and are left with a parishable inventory.
    - ip26 7y ago
      They can't process those animals for sale because the plants are being shuttered.
    - tentboy 7y ago
      The perishable inventory is going bad before it gets to the store and can be panic bought.
    - sokoloff 7y ago
      I thought they were slaughtering animals without benefit because they lacked the labor to slaughter them for retail sale. Iff that's the case, panic buying helps them not at all and maybe makes the PR side of things even worse.
      - jerf 7y ago
        Panic buying also fails to help them if they basically can't raise prices to take advantage of it. It's not like panic buying is going to line their pockets, and certainly nowhere near enough to compensate for the damages they seem to be suffering.
  - karatestomp 7y ago
    Frankly, if doing that's not the primary point of the ad I don't know what is, since it's going to be the main thing it's sure to accomplish. If they don't want panic buying and shortages they must have had a hell of a good reason to for-sure cause them in service of maybe achieving some other effect.
  - gruez 7y ago
    Sounds like the smart thing to do. panic buying -> supply shortages -> voters supporting legislative action that benefits Tyson (eg. reopenings, limiting liabilities, allowing price hikes).
  - Exmoor 7y ago
    Panic buying should be one of the main concerns here. The average American who is able to maintain several weeks worth of food supplies between grocery store should be trying to go to the grocery store as little as possible during this time with a reasonable expectation that there will be food there when they go. If panic buying and shortages start occurring, these same people may feel compelled to visit the grocery store increasingly often in hopes of finding the food they want or need. This could increase transmission rates a non-trivial amount since going to the grocery store is one of activities most likely to put us in contact with a contagious person in our everyday life.
- nickff 7y ago
  Everyone who is working in a 'hard' business (with inventories, capital equipment, and long supply chains) can see that there are huge problems. Many of us are shocked at how little the politicians and public seem to know about how goods get to their doors. Things don't just appear at retail.
- ip26 7y ago
  It's pretty obvious they took out the ad because they want to reopen their processing plants. millions of animals [...] will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities There will be limited supply [...] until we are able to reopen will waive the waiting period for short-term disability to allow workers who get sick to immediately be paid The company told CNN plants are sanitized daily [...] the company performs daily temperature checks In short, "Let us reopen!" I don't have an opinion on whether they should reopen or not, it just seems pretty clear that's the unspoken message.
  - csense 7y ago
    Three percent chance coronavirus will kill us. One hundred percent chance not having any food will kill us. We need to re-open our food infrastructure ASAP. This is really risky for workers, yes, they'll be exposing themselves to the virus. So let's double or triple the pay for the workers involved due to the hazards. Add generous survivors' pensions for the families of those who die or become disabled from COVID-19, as some certainly will if we send them into factories while the risks are there. Maybe we need a program to shuffle unemployed people who have already had COVID-19 into high-exposure jobs like meat plants. Or send in the troops and man the plants with military personnel. We need somebody to produce food even during a pandemic. Getting those food plants open before we run out of food needs to be a top priority!
    - gruez 7y ago
      > Three percent chance coronavirus will kill us. One hundred percent chance not having any food will kill us. Is keeping meat processing plants closed really going to cause food shortages? Eating rice and beans isn't pleasant, but comparing it to starvation is hyperbolic.
      - jerf 7y ago
        At scale, we can't necessarily just substitute things instantly like that. Do you think there's enough calorie-slack built into the rice & beans (& everything else) to supply the drop from animal sources? 'Cause I for one would be very, very surprised. Not to mention you're also assuming that rice and beans are unaffected... but very little if anything about these plant closures are specifically related to them being animal protein sources. Does no good to shrug and say "people should just be eating vegetarian anyhow" if the vegetarian supply line is also going to collapse.
- tathougies 7y ago
  Because it lets them raise prices without incurring public wrath.... By blaming it on 'the supply chain', when meat prices go up, Congress will be the one to take the blame. Instead of the narrative being that Tyson has decided to raise prices and reduce supply, Congress will be blamed for the immaterial 'supply chain' breakdown.
- m3kw9 7y ago
  Seems like is working because news outlets are reporting this
- justin66 7y ago
  It's meant to provide a (poor) justification for a huge portion of their workforce getting sick on the job.
  - jankydoodle 7y ago
    Lol. Grow up. If enough food production facilities shut down, the federal government will begin conscripting people to work in them. There's a 0% chance that the federal government will go for civil unrest for an issue which has an obvious solution.
    - vb6sp6 7y ago
      The USDA's Food Pyramid is the governments plan to cheaply feed a starving nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyramid_(nutrition)#/media/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyramid_(nutrition)#/medi... tldr: hope you like corn and wheat!
    - justin66 7y ago
      Perhaps there's some middle ground between constantly making people sick and closing the plants forever. One obvious one: operating the plants in a safe manner where workers are provided with sufficient space and protective equipment, as well as better virus testing than an infrared thermometer.
- cicero 7y ago
  It's the same reason why those concerned about climate change inform the public rather than just tell Congress. If our food supply is in danger, that is as concerning as climate change, is it not? Or is this different because it is a corporation warning us rather than a scientist or former Vice President?
- shostack 7y ago
  Possibilities: - Cover for raising prices - Cover for unpopular people practices they may (or will) be implementing that will leak and trying to get in front of the bad press - PR support for the GOP push to get people back to work - Cover for outbreaks or contamination that may hit the press
  - throwaway894345 7y ago
    Is it possible that supply chains are really under stress? I would love for an expert to weigh in if only to put my fears to rest, but it seems likely to me that supply chains can't just pivot from routing goods to loads of nonessential businesses to retail. I don't imagine supply chains are designed for such anomalous times. For example, think about the food that was previously routed to restaurants, but now must be routed and sold to grocers. If the supply chain can't pivot quickly, that food goes to waste and whoever invested in that food is out a lot of money--probably a ruinous amount. If those businesses have to fold, that sucks for them, but how many of those businesses can fold before it becomes a major problem--buyers can't get the goods they need to sell and sellers can't get their goods to buyers. That seems like it could be a compounding problem with major impact?
    - nickff 7y ago
      Supply chains are in real trouble, especially in the medium-term. Inventories higher up the chain are in trouble, with production of critical supplies coming to a stop due to lack of demand by manufacturers who are either facing lack of production capacity or demand. Capital equipment purchases and upgrades seem to have stopped; this is not sustainable, and will lead to problems. I am not talking about groceries here; huge numbers of industries are intertwined. plastics, electronics, transportation, steel manufacturing, etc.
      - throwaway894345 7y ago
        Yeah, sorry, groceries were meant as an example. I tried to make that more explicit in my comment.
- GeekyBear 7y ago
  They want to use the fear of supply shortages to pressure Congress into granting them limited liability for their employee work conditions? https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/17/as-workers-face-virus-risks-employers-seek-liability-limits/ https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/17/as-workers-face-virus-ri...
  - Spartan-S63 7y ago
    I guess this whole limited liability ordeal is making me wonder: why doesn't the FDA mandate that all meat packing happens in a clean-room environment? I'm not sure if I'm serious about imposing that requirement, but it does beg the question of what type of health and safety measures are in place in meat packing plants for the consumer buying the meat _and_ the workers doing the packing.
    - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
      It wouldn't really accomplish much. The inside of an animal isn't particularly clean in the first place.
- rriepe 7y ago
  It lets them introduce the story, get their facts up front, and set the tone. A full-page PR ad is kinda old-school, but very Big Ag PR. It's not about a stunt or pressure because they already have the kind of influence you make a play like that for. People have a frightful loyalty to the first version of a story they hear. They know that and they're buying it. It's actually a fairly responsible move because the media could go anywhere with the first take on a story like this.
- tinus_hn 7y ago
  Should they just call Congress? Perhaps they did and they were ignored. Perhaps this is their way of running to the press.
- asdfadsfgfdda 7y ago
  Every single industry is currently trying to get the attention of the government, like restaurants, airlines, petroleum, retail, hotels, etc. This ad is trying to drive the public's attention on food security, so the meat industry can get what they want from the government. As for what they want, I'm guessing reduced inspections (so the inspectors aren't traveling between plants, potentially spreading the virus), some government money, maybe a law to limit liability if workers get sick, priority with testing and PPE, and maybe immigration enforcement relief.
- war1025 7y ago
  > What's the motive for a full-page ad? Part of the reason I would do such a thing is to have something to point at if / when things do fall apart. As others have said, there is a severe lack of understanding among the populace about how much effort is involved in getting a product from raw materials to store shelves. They need to be made aware or the response will be "why didn't anyone tell us?". People don't just go looking for that kind of knowledge.
- vb6sp6 7y ago
  "if you don't go back to work, no chicken for you"
CaliforniaKarl 7y ago
The actual ad: https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/85d81e35-f0f2-48bb-bd58-c0a133b0d8c0/note/d104a57a-0aae-4420-aa28-8bb41c99593a.#page=1 https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/do...
- gruez 7y ago
  >Tyson Foods is also paying approximately $60 million in "thank you" bonuses to 116,000 frontline workers and Tyson truckers That's around $500 per person. Is this monthly or yearly? If it's yearly it's a negligible amount of money.
  - nostromo 7y ago
    $500 is not a trivial amount of money for millions of Americans.
    - compiler-guy 7y ago
      Especially not to those who are working in meat processing plants. Is it enough? Probably not, but if you are working minimum wage with no benefits, $500 makes a real difference.
    - mrguyorama 7y ago
      And yet I'd argue it's very trivial to Tyson Foods, the company staying in the black thanks to all the sacrifices of these possibly underpaid workers.
  - starpilot 7y ago
    If I took $500 out of your wallet, would you be fine with it because it's trivial?
HarryHirsch 7y ago
Where are consequences for management? Food supply is a matter of national security. Where is discussion about workplace safety and sick leave? The coronaplague keeps spreading because employees cannot afford to take time off.
- Mobius01 7y ago
  Our national security is already compromised at the Commander-In-Chief level, this will probably go ignored until it is out of control much like the pandemic itself.
adamnemecek 7y ago
"Depopulated" is quite the euphemism.
- zeveb 7y ago
  I am a meat eater and huntsman, and I agree. Just say 'euthanised' or 'thrown away' or 'killed and wasted.' Treat readers like adults, not use euphemisms. For that matter, it wouldn't surprise me were there a traditional term to use. 'Cull,' maybe?
carapace 7y ago
I don't think this will lead to starvation. Meat will get more expensive this summer, but we shouldn't be eating as much meat as we do anyway. (To say nothing of the cruelty of our methods.) If this worries you plant a Victory Garden now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden And buy some chickens.
- mtalantikite 7y ago
  As a vegetarian I agree, it's easy to be healthy on a majority plant based diet (for most people). The first couple weeks are the hardest as you get over the addiction to meat, but it's really not that big of a deal. They're right about supply chains falling apart though. If everyone were to switch over to mainly plant based a lot of crop land would likely need to be moved from grain to feed animals to plants to feed humans. Who knows what that would take.
  - mumblemumble 7y ago
    Just using the same grain to feed humans instead would be rather easier. It's not like humans are incapable of eating corn, barley, oats, or soybeans. I think the real problem here isn't that we can't get by without meat packing plants. It's that it's been 2 or so generations since the last time a really large of North Americans have had to adjust their diets in response to a major situation like this, and so we don't know what to expect, and the most psychologically available stories to look to are ones of actual famines.
    - pjkundert 7y ago
      No. Ruminants eat food that humans can’t. Furthermore, grazing grassland uses marginal land unusable for industrial scale farming. And, locally operated meat processing works just fine. Virtually all of our problems with the meat supply are self-created and can be fixed — lets just return to the horror show we had 30 or so years ago... wait - it was just fine 30 years ago, and someone who ate the same meat he sold you was responsible for raising and preparing your food. Source: family owned and run feedlot, and worked at a local abattoir thru university.
throwaway5752 7y ago
By all accounts, they made employees go back to work with inadequate safeguards. This is a some real chutzpah. Read https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-plant-employees-coronavirus/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-plant-... for background (or https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-workers-cutting-up-the-nations-meat-get-sick https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-workers-c... a little further back)
- karmicthreat 7y ago
  All food production is a pretty terrible place to work. The only exceptions might be highly automated foods like diary and egg processing.
  - strict9 7y ago
    Probably true for meat-based food production. But the Beyond Meat facility isn't the same miserable hellscape for employees: >“You can come to our facility anytime,” Brown said in an interview on Tuesday. “Don’t call me, just knock on the door. I invite you to do the same with all of Chipotle’s meat-processing facilities. They won’t let you, and if they did, you wouldn’t want to see it.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/no-beyond-burrito-chipotle%E2%80%99s-ceo-says-faux-meat-is-too-processed/ar-AAENrSA https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/no-beyond-burrito-...
- jameslevy 7y ago
  Are there startups working on food-specific robotics automation? I've seen things like pizza and burger preparation, but nothing I can think of beyond that.
  - lancewiggs 7y ago
    Food processing automation is the standard way of doing business - think about each item on the supermarket shelf, and how it got there. Essentially nothing is hand-made and as you go up in volumes you tend towards 24/7 factory operations. And of course there are efficiencies to be gained at scale. Robots tend to be for lower-volume activities. There is always work been done - for example on delicate fruit there are a host of companies and machines that do things like sorting and even picking. https://www.compacsort.com https://www.compacsort.com is a good example. Robots tend to be for lower-volume: https://www.roboticsplus.co.nz/robotic-apple-packing https://www.roboticsplus.co.nz/robotic-apple-packing But for foods like potatoes the sorting machinery is pretty simple as spuds are easy to handle. On the farm there are lots of solutions for automating the various process they have. The larger the farm the more is automated. For example on a dairy farm you'll see milking machines that range from expensive robots (small, European farms) that allow no-touch operation, to inline or rotary milkers that allow decent volume with low/no touch etc. https://www.waikatomilking.com/products/milking-parlors/rotary-platforms/orbit/ https://www.waikatomilking.com/products/milking-parlors/rota...
jungletime 7y ago
Since I discovered oat milk, I rarely buy cream for my coffee. It steams and tastes good enough. This may push people to eat more plant based food. Which is not bad really. Things I wish there was a vegan alternative for eggs, and cheese, with somewhat reasonable price/ease of use.
- throwaway894345 7y ago
  If we shutter all meat production today, then we won't be able to scale production of plant-based alternatives before the meat in the supply chain runs out. This means the costs go up and the poor starve. Everything is interconnected; we shouldn't be so cavalier about condemning entire industries. Although I would suggest we shouldn't be so callous about sacrificing an entire industry (i.e., the families who are supported by work in that industry) even if that industry were magically insulated from the rest of the economy.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
derision 7y ago
Tyson chicken is garbage anyway. My meat suppliers have expressed that things are tough right now, but far from "breaking". I wouldn't be too upset if Tyson foods died.
mgarfias 7y ago
time to order some cornish cross chicks
- mgarfias 7y ago
  really? downvoted for saying I should order chickens to eat? whomever did that is a douche
  - mgarfias 7y ago
    still a douche
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
jahabrewer 7y ago
good
generalpass 7y ago
Whatever damage a virus may rage, it will not be greater than maintaining the restrictions and preventing people from going to work. Let businesses set their policies, employees choose their desired level of safety. Let us choose our destinies instead of confining us to quarters.
triceratops 7y ago
I don't understand the point of this ad. I thought food production was considered essential work. How is Tyson Foods affected by the stay-at-home orders?
- glaugh 7y ago
  My understanding is that they closed plants of their own volition because so many people were getting sick. What the government can do is (1) find and prioritize personal protective equipment for food processing and (2) do a better job on enabling mass testing, again prioritizing the food supply chain. Lobbying the government is more powerful when backed up with the popular pressure that will come from this ad and associated media coverage. It’s a relatively generous interpretation, and I’m not commenting on the wisdom of it or what it seeks to induce, but it seems plausible to me.
gnusty_gnurc 7y ago
Thomas Massie had been sounding the alarm for a while now about agriculture. https://twitter.com/repthomasmassie/status/1254777746527420417 https://twitter.com/repthomasmassie/status/12547777465274204...
vanniv 7y ago
The planned famine is well underway.
- dang 7y ago
  Would you please stop posting like this to HN? You've been violating the site guidelines a ton. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - vanniv 7y ago
    There isn't anything in those guidelines about it being mandatory to support the authoritarian power consolidation. There is nothing in those rules mandating being a leftist, or putting your head in the sand, or begging to be enslaved. Indeed, those rules talk about curiosity and discussion. You can have neither when only the party line is allowed to be posted.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

63 points by vanusa 7y ago

link without auto play video https://outline.com/qF7tdw https://outline.com/qF7tdw

If they want to tell Congress or someone that the supply chain is breaking, that's fine. But why a full-page ad? "To inform the public"? Or to panic the public into pressuring the government? If so, pressure them to do what? What's the motive for a full-page ad? Is it just "Don't blame us, we're doing all we can?" I don't know, but this seems unnecessarily alarmist for a PR exercise.

tentboy 7y ago
It also pretty much ensures a wave of panic buying.
- gehwartzen 7y ago
  Which I suppose is what you would want to happen if you are forced to slaughter millions of animals and are left with a parishable inventory.
  - ip26 7y ago
    They can't process those animals for sale because the plants are being shuttered.
  - tentboy 7y ago
    The perishable inventory is going bad before it gets to the store and can be panic bought.
  - sokoloff 7y ago
    I thought they were slaughtering animals without benefit because they lacked the labor to slaughter them for retail sale. Iff that's the case, panic buying helps them not at all and maybe makes the PR side of things even worse.
    - jerf 7y ago
      Panic buying also fails to help them if they basically can't raise prices to take advantage of it. It's not like panic buying is going to line their pockets, and certainly nowhere near enough to compensate for the damages they seem to be suffering.
- karatestomp 7y ago
  Frankly, if doing that's not the primary point of the ad I don't know what is, since it's going to be the main thing it's sure to accomplish. If they don't want panic buying and shortages they must have had a hell of a good reason to for-sure cause them in service of maybe achieving some other effect.
- gruez 7y ago
  Sounds like the smart thing to do. panic buying -> supply shortages -> voters supporting legislative action that benefits Tyson (eg. reopenings, limiting liabilities, allowing price hikes).
- Exmoor 7y ago
  Panic buying should be one of the main concerns here. The average American who is able to maintain several weeks worth of food supplies between grocery store should be trying to go to the grocery store as little as possible during this time with a reasonable expectation that there will be food there when they go. If panic buying and shortages start occurring, these same people may feel compelled to visit the grocery store increasingly often in hopes of finding the food they want or need. This could increase transmission rates a non-trivial amount since going to the grocery store is one of activities most likely to put us in contact with a contagious person in our everyday life.
nickff 7y ago
Everyone who is working in a 'hard' business (with inventories, capital equipment, and long supply chains) can see that there are huge problems. Many of us are shocked at how little the politicians and public seem to know about how goods get to their doors. Things don't just appear at retail.
ip26 7y ago
It's pretty obvious they took out the ad because they want to reopen their processing plants. millions of animals [...] will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities There will be limited supply [...] until we are able to reopen will waive the waiting period for short-term disability to allow workers who get sick to immediately be paid The company told CNN plants are sanitized daily [...] the company performs daily temperature checks In short, "Let us reopen!" I don't have an opinion on whether they should reopen or not, it just seems pretty clear that's the unspoken message.
- csense 7y ago
  Three percent chance coronavirus will kill us. One hundred percent chance not having any food will kill us. We need to re-open our food infrastructure ASAP. This is really risky for workers, yes, they'll be exposing themselves to the virus. So let's double or triple the pay for the workers involved due to the hazards. Add generous survivors' pensions for the families of those who die or become disabled from COVID-19, as some certainly will if we send them into factories while the risks are there. Maybe we need a program to shuffle unemployed people who have already had COVID-19 into high-exposure jobs like meat plants. Or send in the troops and man the plants with military personnel. We need somebody to produce food even during a pandemic. Getting those food plants open before we run out of food needs to be a top priority!
  - gruez 7y ago
    > Three percent chance coronavirus will kill us. One hundred percent chance not having any food will kill us. Is keeping meat processing plants closed really going to cause food shortages? Eating rice and beans isn't pleasant, but comparing it to starvation is hyperbolic.
    - jerf 7y ago
      At scale, we can't necessarily just substitute things instantly like that. Do you think there's enough calorie-slack built into the rice & beans (& everything else) to supply the drop from animal sources? 'Cause I for one would be very, very surprised. Not to mention you're also assuming that rice and beans are unaffected... but very little if anything about these plant closures are specifically related to them being animal protein sources. Does no good to shrug and say "people should just be eating vegetarian anyhow" if the vegetarian supply line is also going to collapse.
tathougies 7y ago
Because it lets them raise prices without incurring public wrath.... By blaming it on 'the supply chain', when meat prices go up, Congress will be the one to take the blame. Instead of the narrative being that Tyson has decided to raise prices and reduce supply, Congress will be blamed for the immaterial 'supply chain' breakdown.
m3kw9 7y ago
Seems like is working because news outlets are reporting this
justin66 7y ago
It's meant to provide a (poor) justification for a huge portion of their workforce getting sick on the job.
- jankydoodle 7y ago
  Lol. Grow up. If enough food production facilities shut down, the federal government will begin conscripting people to work in them. There's a 0% chance that the federal government will go for civil unrest for an issue which has an obvious solution.
  - vb6sp6 7y ago
    The USDA's Food Pyramid is the governments plan to cheaply feed a starving nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyramid_(nutrition)#/media/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyramid_(nutrition)#/medi... tldr: hope you like corn and wheat!
  - justin66 7y ago
    Perhaps there's some middle ground between constantly making people sick and closing the plants forever. One obvious one: operating the plants in a safe manner where workers are provided with sufficient space and protective equipment, as well as better virus testing than an infrared thermometer.
cicero 7y ago
It's the same reason why those concerned about climate change inform the public rather than just tell Congress. If our food supply is in danger, that is as concerning as climate change, is it not? Or is this different because it is a corporation warning us rather than a scientist or former Vice President?
shostack 7y ago
Possibilities: - Cover for raising prices - Cover for unpopular people practices they may (or will) be implementing that will leak and trying to get in front of the bad press - PR support for the GOP push to get people back to work - Cover for outbreaks or contamination that may hit the press
- throwaway894345 7y ago
  Is it possible that supply chains are really under stress? I would love for an expert to weigh in if only to put my fears to rest, but it seems likely to me that supply chains can't just pivot from routing goods to loads of nonessential businesses to retail. I don't imagine supply chains are designed for such anomalous times. For example, think about the food that was previously routed to restaurants, but now must be routed and sold to grocers. If the supply chain can't pivot quickly, that food goes to waste and whoever invested in that food is out a lot of money--probably a ruinous amount. If those businesses have to fold, that sucks for them, but how many of those businesses can fold before it becomes a major problem--buyers can't get the goods they need to sell and sellers can't get their goods to buyers. That seems like it could be a compounding problem with major impact?
  - nickff 7y ago
    Supply chains are in real trouble, especially in the medium-term. Inventories higher up the chain are in trouble, with production of critical supplies coming to a stop due to lack of demand by manufacturers who are either facing lack of production capacity or demand. Capital equipment purchases and upgrades seem to have stopped; this is not sustainable, and will lead to problems. I am not talking about groceries here; huge numbers of industries are intertwined. plastics, electronics, transportation, steel manufacturing, etc.
    - throwaway894345 7y ago
      Yeah, sorry, groceries were meant as an example. I tried to make that more explicit in my comment.
GeekyBear 7y ago
They want to use the fear of supply shortages to pressure Congress into granting them limited liability for their employee work conditions? https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/17/as-workers-face-virus-risks-employers-seek-liability-limits/ https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/17/as-workers-face-virus-ri...
- Spartan-S63 7y ago
  I guess this whole limited liability ordeal is making me wonder: why doesn't the FDA mandate that all meat packing happens in a clean-room environment? I'm not sure if I'm serious about imposing that requirement, but it does beg the question of what type of health and safety measures are in place in meat packing plants for the consumer buying the meat _and_ the workers doing the packing.
  - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
    It wouldn't really accomplish much. The inside of an animal isn't particularly clean in the first place.
rriepe 7y ago
It lets them introduce the story, get their facts up front, and set the tone. A full-page PR ad is kinda old-school, but very Big Ag PR. It's not about a stunt or pressure because they already have the kind of influence you make a play like that for. People have a frightful loyalty to the first version of a story they hear. They know that and they're buying it. It's actually a fairly responsible move because the media could go anywhere with the first take on a story like this.
tinus_hn 7y ago
Should they just call Congress? Perhaps they did and they were ignored. Perhaps this is their way of running to the press.
asdfadsfgfdda 7y ago
Every single industry is currently trying to get the attention of the government, like restaurants, airlines, petroleum, retail, hotels, etc. This ad is trying to drive the public's attention on food security, so the meat industry can get what they want from the government. As for what they want, I'm guessing reduced inspections (so the inspectors aren't traveling between plants, potentially spreading the virus), some government money, maybe a law to limit liability if workers get sick, priority with testing and PPE, and maybe immigration enforcement relief.
war1025 7y ago
> What's the motive for a full-page ad? Part of the reason I would do such a thing is to have something to point at if / when things do fall apart. As others have said, there is a severe lack of understanding among the populace about how much effort is involved in getting a product from raw materials to store shelves. They need to be made aware or the response will be "why didn't anyone tell us?". People don't just go looking for that kind of knowledge.
vb6sp6 7y ago
"if you don't go back to work, no chicken for you"

CaliforniaKarl 7y ago

The actual ad: https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/85d81e35-f0f2-48bb-bd58-c0a133b0d8c0/note/d104a57a-0aae-4420-aa28-8bb41c99593a.#page=1 https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/do...

gruez 7y ago
>Tyson Foods is also paying approximately $60 million in "thank you" bonuses to 116,000 frontline workers and Tyson truckers That's around $500 per person. Is this monthly or yearly? If it's yearly it's a negligible amount of money.
- nostromo 7y ago
  $500 is not a trivial amount of money for millions of Americans.
  - compiler-guy 7y ago
    Especially not to those who are working in meat processing plants. Is it enough? Probably not, but if you are working minimum wage with no benefits, $500 makes a real difference.
  - mrguyorama 7y ago
    And yet I'd argue it's very trivial to Tyson Foods, the company staying in the black thanks to all the sacrifices of these possibly underpaid workers.
- starpilot 7y ago
  If I took $500 out of your wallet, would you be fine with it because it's trivial?

HarryHirsch 7y ago

Where are consequences for management? Food supply is a matter of national security. Where is discussion about workplace safety and sick leave? The coronaplague keeps spreading because employees cannot afford to take time off.

Mobius01 7y ago
Our national security is already compromised at the Commander-In-Chief level, this will probably go ignored until it is out of control much like the pandemic itself.

adamnemecek 7y ago

"Depopulated" is quite the euphemism.

zeveb 7y ago
I am a meat eater and huntsman, and I agree. Just say 'euthanised' or 'thrown away' or 'killed and wasted.' Treat readers like adults, not use euphemisms. For that matter, it wouldn't surprise me were there a traditional term to use. 'Cull,' maybe?

carapace 7y ago

I don't think this will lead to starvation. Meat will get more expensive this summer, but we shouldn't be eating as much meat as we do anyway. (To say nothing of the cruelty of our methods.) If this worries you plant a Victory Garden now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden And buy some chickens.

mtalantikite 7y ago
As a vegetarian I agree, it's easy to be healthy on a majority plant based diet (for most people). The first couple weeks are the hardest as you get over the addiction to meat, but it's really not that big of a deal. They're right about supply chains falling apart though. If everyone were to switch over to mainly plant based a lot of crop land would likely need to be moved from grain to feed animals to plants to feed humans. Who knows what that would take.
- mumblemumble 7y ago
  Just using the same grain to feed humans instead would be rather easier. It's not like humans are incapable of eating corn, barley, oats, or soybeans. I think the real problem here isn't that we can't get by without meat packing plants. It's that it's been 2 or so generations since the last time a really large of North Americans have had to adjust their diets in response to a major situation like this, and so we don't know what to expect, and the most psychologically available stories to look to are ones of actual famines.
  - pjkundert 7y ago
    No. Ruminants eat food that humans can’t. Furthermore, grazing grassland uses marginal land unusable for industrial scale farming. And, locally operated meat processing works just fine. Virtually all of our problems with the meat supply are self-created and can be fixed — lets just return to the horror show we had 30 or so years ago... wait - it was just fine 30 years ago, and someone who ate the same meat he sold you was responsible for raising and preparing your food. Source: family owned and run feedlot, and worked at a local abattoir thru university.

throwaway5752 7y ago

By all accounts, they made employees go back to work with inadequate safeguards. This is a some real chutzpah. Read https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-plant-employees-coronavirus/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-plant-... for background (or https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-workers-cutting-up-the-nations-meat-get-sick https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-workers-c... a little further back)

karmicthreat 7y ago
All food production is a pretty terrible place to work. The only exceptions might be highly automated foods like diary and egg processing.
- strict9 7y ago
  Probably true for meat-based food production. But the Beyond Meat facility isn't the same miserable hellscape for employees: >“You can come to our facility anytime,” Brown said in an interview on Tuesday. “Don’t call me, just knock on the door. I invite you to do the same with all of Chipotle’s meat-processing facilities. They won’t let you, and if they did, you wouldn’t want to see it.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/no-beyond-burrito-chipotle%E2%80%99s-ceo-says-faux-meat-is-too-processed/ar-AAENrSA https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/no-beyond-burrito-...
jameslevy 7y ago
Are there startups working on food-specific robotics automation? I've seen things like pizza and burger preparation, but nothing I can think of beyond that.
- lancewiggs 7y ago
  Food processing automation is the standard way of doing business - think about each item on the supermarket shelf, and how it got there. Essentially nothing is hand-made and as you go up in volumes you tend towards 24/7 factory operations. And of course there are efficiencies to be gained at scale. Robots tend to be for lower-volume activities. There is always work been done - for example on delicate fruit there are a host of companies and machines that do things like sorting and even picking. https://www.compacsort.com https://www.compacsort.com is a good example. Robots tend to be for lower-volume: https://www.roboticsplus.co.nz/robotic-apple-packing https://www.roboticsplus.co.nz/robotic-apple-packing But for foods like potatoes the sorting machinery is pretty simple as spuds are easy to handle. On the farm there are lots of solutions for automating the various process they have. The larger the farm the more is automated. For example on a dairy farm you'll see milking machines that range from expensive robots (small, European farms) that allow no-touch operation, to inline or rotary milkers that allow decent volume with low/no touch etc. https://www.waikatomilking.com/products/milking-parlors/rotary-platforms/orbit/ https://www.waikatomilking.com/products/milking-parlors/rota...

jungletime 7y ago

Since I discovered oat milk, I rarely buy cream for my coffee. It steams and tastes good enough. This may push people to eat more plant based food. Which is not bad really. Things I wish there was a vegan alternative for eggs, and cheese, with somewhat reasonable price/ease of use.

throwaway894345 7y ago
If we shutter all meat production today, then we won't be able to scale production of plant-based alternatives before the meat in the supply chain runs out. This means the costs go up and the poor starve. Everything is interconnected; we shouldn't be so cavalier about condemning entire industries. Although I would suggest we shouldn't be so callous about sacrificing an entire industry (i.e., the families who are supported by work in that industry) even if that industry were magically insulated from the rest of the economy.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

derision 7y ago

Tyson chicken is garbage anyway. My meat suppliers have expressed that things are tough right now, but far from "breaking". I wouldn't be too upset if Tyson foods died.

mgarfias 7y ago

time to order some cornish cross chicks

mgarfias 7y ago
really? downvoted for saying I should order chickens to eat? whomever did that is a douche
- mgarfias 7y ago
  still a douche
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

jahabrewer 7y ago

good

generalpass 7y ago

Whatever damage a virus may rage, it will not be greater than maintaining the restrictions and preventing people from going to work. Let businesses set their policies, employees choose their desired level of safety. Let us choose our destinies instead of confining us to quarters.

triceratops 7y ago

I don't understand the point of this ad. I thought food production was considered essential work. How is Tyson Foods affected by the stay-at-home orders?

glaugh 7y ago
My understanding is that they closed plants of their own volition because so many people were getting sick. What the government can do is (1) find and prioritize personal protective equipment for food processing and (2) do a better job on enabling mass testing, again prioritizing the food supply chain. Lobbying the government is more powerful when backed up with the popular pressure that will come from this ad and associated media coverage. It’s a relatively generous interpretation, and I’m not commenting on the wisdom of it or what it seeks to induce, but it seems plausible to me.

gnusty_gnurc 7y ago

Thomas Massie had been sounding the alarm for a while now about agriculture. https://twitter.com/repthomasmassie/status/1254777746527420417 https://twitter.com/repthomasmassie/status/12547777465274204...

vanniv 7y ago

The planned famine is well underway.

dang 7y ago
Would you please stop posting like this to HN? You've been violating the site guidelines a ton. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- vanniv 7y ago
  There isn't anything in those guidelines about it being mandatory to support the authoritarian power consolidation. There is nothing in those rules mandating being a leftist, or putting your head in the sand, or begging to be enslaved. Indeed, those rules talk about curiosity and discussion. You can have neither when only the party line is allowed to be posted.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]