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Some early storm assessments for agriculture
Some very preliminary assessments of what that East Coast storm is doing to agriculture. Tom Cassidy with Ag Radio Network in Central New York says the biggest challenge for dairy farmers in the region is transportation; Interstates are closed to big trucks in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. Bridges into NYC are closed and Milk plants in the city are shuttered as well. Power outages are a problem but most dairies have generators as the area has a lot of ice storms. Cassidy says “Fortunately, there was a lot of time to prepare: bring cattle in from low lying pastures, harvest crops in flood plains, etc. It will have an impact, just not sure how much yet.”
Jennifer Huson with Dairylea Cooperative in New York says “As far as impact to our farms go, at this point there has been minimum impact on our members as a whole. Mostly the impact has been intermittent in various areas with farms experiencing power outages. The largest impact we have had is on the plant side. From Sunday through Tuesday, we have had approximately 200 loads of milk turned back (from New York City).” Huson says with the network they have set up, the milk was moved to other plants which are running extra hours.
Keira Lombardo, vice president of corporate communications with Smithfield Foods says All Smithfield processing facilities were open for business on Monday. To ensure the safety of our employees, our Portsmouth and Smithfield, Virginia plants opened two hours late and second shifts were canceled on Monday. The company’s Landover, Maryland plant closed early on Monday and will not operate on Tuesday, but operations will resume on Wednesday. Lombardo says there are no reports of damage to Smithfield livestock or barns.
Julie DeYoung with Perdue Farms says they began preparing several days ahead of the storm, including ensuring adequate supplies of feed ingredients and feed, and bringing in generators for key operations, including hatcheries and feed mills, and extra generators and fuel to assist our growers in the event of widespread or extended power outages.
The company’s four Delmarva processing plants: Salisbury, Maryland, Georgetown, Delaware, Milford, Delaware and Accomac, Virginia did not run Monday and are not running Tuesday. “All escaped major damage, with just one plant with minor flooding. We hope to resume product shipping Tuesday afternoon if it is safe for people to travel to work. At this point, we plan to process on Wednesday.” They also have reports of two farms that raise their birds with extensive flooding.
DeYoung says the overriding priority is the safety of their associates and drivers. Travel restrictions in the region have significantly impacted the company’s ability to ship product especially to the Northeast. “All in all, I would say that we are very fortunate.”
Worth Sparkman, Public Relations Manager with Tyson Foods says they are not aware of any damage to their poultry or livestock houses in the region. No damage at any of Tyson’s facilities either. Sparkman says the plants in New Holland, Pennsylvania and Glen Allen, Virginia resumed operations by mid-morning Tuesday but the Temperanceville, Virginia plant was closed. It is scheduled to resume production Wednesday. Sparkman says, “Tyson Foods trucks dispatched in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions are either making deliveries or staged to make deliveries, depending on our customers’ needs.”
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