Missouri Braces For Loss Of 2,200 Agriculture Jobs Around October

Missouri is about to lose 35 hog farms in northern Missouri’s Putnam and Mercer Counties – putting about 92 people out of jobs. Smithfield Foods is closing the operations around October.

Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Chris Chinn says Smithfield has sows in the southern part of the state and weaning pigs will now be shipped to northern Missouri to be closer to the packing plant.

Meanwhile, Tyson Foods is closing chicken processing plants in southeast Missouri’s Dexter and southwest Missouri’s Noel (null) – accounting for the loss of about 22-hundred jobs.