US Meat, Milk Prices Should Spike if Donald Trump Carries Out Mass Deportation Schemes

On recent earnings calls, shareholders of some publicly traded meat companies asked whether the Trump administration’s deportation plans (among other issues) might pose a challenge to their industry. “We’ve been there before. It hasn’t affected our business. Shareholder questions. In answer to similar questions Tyson Foods Earnings Conference Call“There’s a lot we don’t know yet, but I want to remind you that regardless of which party controls it, we have been successfully running this business for more than 90 years,” Chief Executive Donnie King said.

It’s unclear whether the Trump administration will target meat processing facilities run by the industry’s largest companies, given the favorable treatment the companies sometimes received during Trump’s first term as president. During the Covid-19 pandemic, President Trump issued an executive order allowing The factory continues to operatealthough meat processors are some of the hardest hit by infection. The U.S. House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis later discovered that Tyson’s legal department drafted a text proposed order.

“These large meatpacking companies have blocked additional protections to protect workers, in part by working with Trump administration political officials to shield themselves from oversight, force workers into hazardous conditions, and shield themselves from committees. It concluded: “Responsible for any worker illness or death resulting from this” in report Released in December 2022.

Cesar Escalante, a professor in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said labor supply is tight at meatpacking plants and throughout the agriculture industry. Escalante said the industry needs more workers, and he believes the U.S. should expand the H-2A seasonal agricultural worker visa program to include more livestock workers. Escalante said smaller farms are more likely to be affected by a lack of workers, while larger farms may turn to mechanization.

If meatpacking workers are deported en masse, that could lead to higher prices for consumers. A report comes from Texas A&M AgriLife Research It is estimated that eliminating immigrant labor from U.S. dairy farms would nearly double retail milk prices. It’s unclear what impact Trump’s deportation plan will have on meat or food prices, as much of the plan remains unknown. “We don’t know yet how this is going to play out,” Hubbard said.