Marashalltown, Iowa, JBS pork plant shut down after EF 3 damage.

Jacqui Fatka, Policy editor

July 21, 2018

1 Min Read
Iowa JBS plant closes down due to tornado damage
JBS Pork - Beardstown, IL Facebook page

The JBS pork processing plant in Marshalltown, Iowa, was shut down Friday after a storm system blew through the area late afternoon on Thursday. The city of Marshalltown declared a state of emergency on Thursday evening following the EF 3 tornado with peak winds of 144 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

“The JBS USA Marshalltown facility suffered damage to its distribution center, but the plant remains operational,” JBS company spokesman Cameron Bruett said in an email statement to Feedstuffs.

The plant was closed on Friday to assess the damage and allow its team members time to tend to their families and personal concerns.

Bruett continued, “Our foremost concern is for our team members and the community of Marshalltown. Fortunately, there have been no reported injuries to our team members who were at the facility when the storm hit. We continue to assess the situation and will work alongside the Marshalltown community to get through this difficult time.”

The plant runs an estimated 20,000 hogs per day, and employs more than 2,200 people. Reports indicated that those animals scheduled for processing would likely be rerouted to other plants.

JBS is the largest employer in the city.

The same night in Pella, Iowa, the Vermeer Manufacturing plant also sustained substantial damage from a tornado.  

Related:Tornado hits Vermeer's Pella plant

 

About the Author(s)

Jacqui Fatka

Policy editor, Farm Futures

Jacqui Fatka grew up on a diversified livestock and grain farm in southwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a minor in agriculture education, in 2003. She’s been writing for agricultural audiences ever since. In college, she interned with Wallaces Farmer and cultivated her love of ag policy during an internship with the Iowa Pork Producers Association, working in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Capitol Hill press office. In 2003, she started full time for Farm Progress companies’ state and regional publications as the e-content editor, and became Farm Futures’ policy editor in 2004. A few years later, she began covering grain and biofuels markets for the weekly newspaper Feedstuffs. As the current policy editor for Farm Progress, she covers the ongoing developments in ag policy, trade, regulations and court rulings. Fatka also serves as the interim executive secretary-treasurer for the North American Agricultural Journalists. She lives on a small acreage in central Ohio with her husband and three children.

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