California Cargill plant shutting down third shift

About 60 position to be cut in move

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Photo by David Wilson

The Cargill Plant in California Missouri has been a Cargill facility since 1974.

CALIFORNIA, MO. — Cargill announced Thursday it is shutting down its third shift Oct. 12 at its California plant. The cut is expected to affect 61 employees

Mike Martin, director of communications for Cargill, Wichita, Kan., cited three factors for the decision:

• Escalating input costs such as grain, which has resulted in softening demand for turkey meat products;

•The need to manage turkey meat inventory, which has been building due to that weakening demand;

• Increasing transportation costs for raw materials being shipped to Cargill’s Springdale, Ark., facility for processing.

“The best current estimate is that approximately 35 hourly, 20 temporary and six salaried employees will be impacted,” Martin said. “Impacted employees will receive severance payments, outplacement services and other appropriate support.”

Cargill is also in the process of communicating with impacted third parties, including contract growers, USDA, utility companies and others.

Prior to this reduction, the California Cargill facility employed approximately 500 people. The plant is one of four turkey processing facilities operated by the company in the United States. The others are located in Virginia, Texas and Arkansas.

More like this story

spelchek 8 months, 3 weeks ago

"The private sector is doing fine..." -- President Obama

cimarron 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Gone fishin'...

JCLifer 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Hope and change...

dokeus6 8 months, 3 weeks ago

With the price of beef getting ready to go down who wants to eat turkey!! The price of doing business. Survival of the fittest. Capitalism at it's finest.

***Mod Please don't delete, I hit removal button on accident. Can you please ask your programmers to move this. It's not that big of a coding project.

online_editor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

@dokeus6: Unfortunately, that's unlikely since we're not the programmers, just one of many customers who must pay extra if we want customized changes. Doesn't it ask you "really remove this comment?" after you hit the removal link on your own post? Wondering because it does for administrators. --Rick Brown, online editor, News Tribune

GrumpyGus 8 months, 3 weeks ago

doke you don't know squat about commodities. We will be paying through the nose for all meat. Cattlemen are already paying record prices for winter hay and feeding it in August. Beef will go through the roof, and be worse next year because farmers are culling their herds so they don't go broke buying hay.

Capitalism my Aunt Fannie. The govt. is paying farmers not to grow crops, and to sell corn to ethanol plants. If all farmers had grown hay this year, we would have lower prices for beef next year. If they would feed the corn to the cattle, we would have lower beef prices next year.

Instead, the govt. pays farmers to burn our food. Well crafted plan.

dokeus6 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Boy Gus. I love getting a rise out of you. You are such a nice guy. Have a good day and May the odds always be in your favor.

dokeus6 8 months, 3 weeks ago

I was talking about the law of supply and demand Gus. There is going to be a glutton of beef on the market. Some may not be suitable to eat but it will be out there. My comment was about how a company will do what it has to do to survive.

Littleinvestor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Beef is going down because anything large enough to go to the feedlot and older animals, along with cows from dairies being shut down, are going to market. But, from birth to delivery of her first calf, a heifer needs about three years so in four to six months, beef is going to go through the roof and stay high for more than three years. Turkeys grow out in about 4-6 months, depending on if they are hens or toms and how good the grower is, so that production can ramp up much faster, as can chickens. Pork can ramp up production faster than beef, too. Cattlemen did grow hay this year but it was a short crop, in MO anyway, because of May being dry and second cuttings did not occur. Because farmers had to start feeding hay by July, rather than in November or December, stockpiles are disappearing fast and will not last through the winter. That is one factor in disposal of so many cattle. The conservation reserve program could have provided some grazing and haying but was released by the feds too late in most places. Everyone needs to go out and hunt deer this fall and fill their freezers.

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Will they put the rest of the employees on overtime to save Benefits? Will they give them a rehire date? The only thing that will help a little they sound like they will leave their shift in a month, or so, giving a little time to get things in order. I have had periods of unemployment, more under the Republican administrations than Democratic. Rob

Please review our Policies and Procedures before registering or commenting

Or login with:

OpenID

News Tribune