To give you an opportunity to see what's new, and what has changed, we have taken the paywall down temporarily.
Currently, there is no need to log into the site.
We will provide instructions for creating new account and resetting passwords when the paywall is turned back on.
Tyson Foods, the largest employer in Carroll County, notified several poultry farmers in the county on Monday, Aug. 7, that it intends to cancel their grower contracts, multiple sources said.
One local farmer, who asked not to be identified, said he was notified in a 7 a.m. telephone call of Tyson’s decision to cancel his contract.
“They said if I wanted to grow one more flock, I could, because of my date on my contract, but that would be it,” the farmer said.
The farmer said he was told by a Tyson representative that “several” local growers would be affected.
“I’ve talked to a couple people,” he said. “I think there’s 30 growers in Carroll County. That’s what I was told. I know there’s seven or eight that I’ve talked to.”
The farmer said he recently spent $108,000 remodeling four of his six chicken houses and had been preparing to remodel the other two.
State Sen. Bryan King, whose district includes Carroll County, said the move to cancel grower contracts will be “hurtful” to the local economy.
“As somebody that’s been in the agriculture business all my life — I was a 33-year Tyson grower — I’ve been sounding the alarm on how bad things have been going for farmers for years,” King said. “It’s going to be a situation where we’ll know more later. We haven’t had news like this in the agriculture business, hits like this, in decades.”
King will hold a public meeting on the issue at noon Friday, Aug. 11, at the Carroll Electric headquarters in Berryville.
Tyson Foods is the largest employer in Carroll County and operates processing plants in Berryville and Green Forest. The company announced its third-quarter 2023 results on Monday, Aug. 7, reporting a net loss of $417 million for the three-month period ending July 1. In its earnings report, Tyson also announced that it will close poultry processing plants in North Little Rock; Corydon, Ind.; Dexter, Mo.; and Noel, Mo.; in the first two quarters of fiscal 2024.
In response to an inquiry, a Tyson spokesman said in an email: “We will honor our obligations to our contract broiler growers in these areas. “
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here