March 17, 2021
Lee Schulz, associate professor, was interviewed for a March 17 Agri Pulse article, "One year later: Pandemic introduces unprecedented supply, demand issues into livestock sector."
In the meat industry, packing plants still face challenges, Schulz said. Prior to COVID, the labor supply was tight, and the pandemic made it worse. In addition, slaughtering cattle and hogs has become more expensive because plants pay overtime on weekends.
Surprisingly, though, after all of the dramatic changes that the livestock and dairy industries endured in 2020, the future could look more like 2019 than 2020.