The closure of a Logansport meatpacking plant due to COVID-19 is creating challenges for farmers across the state. Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, who serves as secretary of agriculture and rural development, says the closure is a huge concern.
“In talking to our director of agriculture, the Tyson plant serves so many of our farmers,” Crouch says. “The challenge that they have is they sign contracts with these processing plants. So they have hogs and pigs to deliver, and the plant isn’t open.”
During state officials’ COVID-19 briefing Thursday, State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said about 160 people at the plant have tested positive for COVID-19 out of 2,100. “I’ll be very honest with you. In discussions that we had with Logansport Memorial Hospital, with the local health department, with the county commissioners, and with the plant itself, there was just – even after they closed and cleaned and they put up dividers, and made sure that there was the ability to socially distance – still just a lack of comfort with individuals that were asymptomatic going back to work.”
The Indiana State Department of Health is currently on-site to test everyone in the plant. Still, Governor Holcomb was confident that the company has made the necessary changes, and Box said the hope is that those who test negative could go back to work at the beginning of the week.
Lieutenant Governor Crouch feels that state officials and farmers will work through the challenge together. “They are resilient, and I am over and over struck by the optimism and by the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of our small business owners who are farmers,” Crouch says.
The lieutenant governor adds that Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Bruce Kettler and Indiana State Veterinarian Dr. Bret Marsh have been in ongoing conversations with Tyson officials, as well as farmers.
