Animals farmed: meat plants amid the pandemic, antibiotics on US farms and new rules for pig cages
Written by Bibi van der Zee and Tom Levitt
Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the web
News from around the world
The meat and seafood sectors continue to struggle with the pandemic. A Brazilian court has ordered a pork plant to shut for 14 days over coronavirus fears, and more than 80 crew members on a US trawler tested positive for Covid-19. Observers say meat companies are likely to switch towards more automation in the future to avoid a repeat of the shutdowns. “The coronavirus is going to accelerate the acceptance of slaughterhouse robots, especially in places like the US,” Shai Barbut, a professor of meat science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, told Wired.
While meat plants in the Americas, Australia and Europe have had to shut temporarily or slow down production, there continue to be reports of growth in animal protein. The US giant Cargill has reported a 20% rise in feed production over the past four years from its aquaculture division, driven by the farmed salmon sector. And JBS helped to drive record beef exports from Brazil last year, fuelled by sales to China which were up 50% year-on-year.
Officials in the Netherlands have ordered a cull of 10,000 mink on farms in the country after concerns that infected animals could transmit coronavirus to humans. There are an estimated 140 mink farms in the Netherlands, exporting €90m (£80m) worth of fur a year.
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