The US turkey trade is dealing with a completely feathered disaster — and certainly one of its largest heavyweights is quietly trotting away from the enterprise, The Submit has discovered.
Minnesota-based meals big Cargill — the third-largest turkey processor within the US — is winding down its Shady Brook Farms line of turkey burgers, sausages, cutlets and entire birds because it eyes a broader exit from a slumping area of interest that has been slammed by chook flu, sources stated.
The 112-year-old grocery store label — whose packaging encompasses a purple barn and advertises meat with out antibiotics, hormones or steroids — shall be off the cabinets at many shops by July, a number of retailers and distributors instructed The Submit.
That’s even if Shady Brook Farms has been the dominant turkey model in grocery shops alongside the East Coast — in lots of circumstances the one model retailers have supplied for many years.
“Cargill wants to get out of the turkey business,” a distributor instructed The Submit. “Cargill are big numbers people and they are spitting out numbers that don’t make sense.”
The shift is already underway. In March, Morton Williams supermarkets started receiving about half the quantity of Shady Brook Farm pre-packaged meat than it had earlier than and turned to 2 extra distributors to make up for the shortfall, in response to Victor Colello, director of meat for the New York Metropolis-based grocery chain.
“Ground turkey is a huge item for us,” Colello stated.
Stew Leonard’s, a family-owned grocery store chain within the New York space, additionally noticed its Shady Brook Farm orders slashed in current weeks, chief government Stew Leonard Jr. instructed The Submit.
“We are scrambling on the buying side to find another producer of ground turkey,” he stated. “And we’re expecting turkey prices to go up.”
Earlier this yr, Cargill introduced that it could be closing certainly one of a number of turkey processing vegetation this summer season in Springdale, Ark. as shopper demand for turkey ranges off, making it a much less worthwhile protein for the large provider. Greater than 1,000 Shady Brook staff will lose their jobs.
Nonetheless, Cargill known as claims that it’s exiting the turkey trade “rumor and speculation.”
“Turkey remains an essential part of Cargill’s protein portfolio,” the corporate stated in an announcement concerning the plant closing. “We will shift much of Springdale’s production to our turkey processing plants in Missouri and Virginia and work to minimize supply disruptions to customers.”
The turkey trade has been hit mercilessly in current seasons by viral epidemics. Fowl flu has killed 19 million turkeys since 2022. A more recent respiratory bug known as Metapneumovirus is “decimating” turkey flocks because it has hit between 60% and 80% of flocks nationwide, in response to the Nationwide Turkey Federation.
Many farms “have quit raising turkeys” altogether due to the viruses and the monetary jitters they’ve sparked, in response to congressional testimony in February by the federation’s previous chairman, John Zimmerman.
“Most farms operate on a credit line and the banks are saying that if you could lose 30% of your flock each time we lend you money, it doesn’t make sense to lend you money right now,” Zimmerman instructed The Submit.
That’s on prime of declining shopper appetites for turkey, which has steadily misplaced market share to hen — even throughout go-to holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Turkey now represents simply 11% of poultry consumption versus 87% for hen.
“Turkey demand went up in the 1980s and has been the same for 40 years,” poultry professional Paul Aho instructed The Submit. “It’s a stagnant industry that hasn’t experienced the explosive growth of the chicken industry.”
Turkey reached its peak within the mid-Nineteen Nineties at 26.8 kilos per capita, fueled by aggressive advertising and marketing about lean meats, together with turkey bacon. In 2024, the per capita fell to 13.9 kilos or one pound lower than 2023, in response to USDA information.
Turkey is Cargill’s least worthwhile protein and has been for years, sources inform The Submit. Shady Brook has periodically failed to meet commitments to main retailers who have been pressured to show to different suppliers — and who billed Cargill for the distinction, a number of sources instructed The Submit.
“Shady Brook is an albatross for Cargill,” one trade government instructed The Submit. “We used to joke with Cargill employees about why Cargill didn’t shut down Shady Brook years ago or sell it.”
Cargill’s Springdale, Ark. plant was inbuilt 1965 and is amongst its oldest amenities. The plant misplaced as a lot as $38 million in a yr and a glitch-ridden expertise improve “really impacted their business,” in response to one supply with information of the breakdowns.
“That’s an ancient plant and if it hasn’t been upgraded over time,” Aho stated. “It makes sense that it might be it’s least profitable facility.”
Shady Brook Farms is just not the one struggling turkey processor. California based mostly Foster Farms is closing a turkey plant on Might 9, shedding 500 staff.
“Consumption has declined and so closing a plant is a business decision those companies have made,” Zimmerman stated. “But it’s not the death knell of the turkey industry [and] hopefully we can find ways to bring back consumption.”
Cargill is the most important privately owned firm within the US with $160 billion in revenues. Gross sales dropped 10% in 2024 as each its meat and crops companies suffered losses. The corporate is shedding 5% of its workforce.
On the retail degree, Cargill is initially solely choking off smaller chains, and can proceed to provide bigger retailers, together with Cease & Store, Store Ceremony and Aldi together with the some massive membership shops.
“We continue to offer retailers the Shady Brook Farms brand of turkey products as they request and as are available,” the Cargill spokesperson stated.
Colello of Morton Williams fears his shops will lose enterprise to the bigger chains as a result of clients have been shopping for Shady Brook Farms for many years. With out the model, retailers are reaching out to Butterball, Jennie-O and Perdue, which even have been stretched by the chook flu.
“You have to get customers used to a new brand,” Colello stated.
