The road to recovery will be long for farmers and ag businesses in western Kentucky following the storms that moved through late last week.
In Graves County, Mayfield, Kentucky, major agriculture companies were completely leveled, from a John Deere dealership to Mayfield Grain, which handles over 40 million bushels of grain every year. Moreover, Pilgrim’s Pride hatchery was wiped out in Graves County. That will have a ripple effect on the poultry production in Kentucky for some time to come.
“We have a 200-mile swath through Kentucky that has pulled-down grain systems, destroyed chicken hatcheries and of course blown-over barns. When you have counties where the fences have been literally uprooted and tossed around, it’s going take some time to sort through animal losses. Simply because the cattle may not be there anymore. We’ve also secured holding facilities for cattle as well as horses,” said Ryan Quarles, Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner.
This first video shows a chicken hatchery & processing factory that has been completely destroyed by the December 10, 2021 Mayfield, Kentucky Tornado
The destruction in the Midwest could further raise already high chicken prices and add to supply-chain headaches that have made it difficult for farmers to replace tractor parts.
Poultry is Kentucky’s top agricultural commodity, and at least a dozen chicken barns collapsed, Quarles said. The state is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to properly kill and dispose of chickens housed in barns that were destroyed, he said.
President Joe Biden will visit the state on Wednesday to survey the damage.
One Pilgrim’s Pride chicken hatchery was a total loss, and another is expected to be offline until spring after suffering significant damage, the company said in a statement. It added that other company hatcheries are supplying chickens to farmers near Mayfield, a town of 10,000 that suffered some of the worst damage from the tornadoes.
Pilgrim’s, which is mostly owned by Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA, is evaluating damage to a local feedmill, while a production plant is expected to be fully operational on Wednesday, the statement said.
The loss of the hatchery in Mayfield “automatically triggers a multi-month delay in the processing and raising of chickens because the hatchery simply is not there anymore to supply the farmers,” Quarles said.
Mayfield is in Kentucky’s top county for agricultural sales, accounting for 6% of the state’s total farm business, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, though the state is not a top grain producer. Kentucky held 1.5% of U.S. corn stocks in December 2020, the USDA said.
“Lots of farmer elevators damaged. Some small feed mills have damage with indefinite timelines,” said Andrew Jackson, broker at Producers Hedge, in Lancaster, Kentucky.
Mayfield Grain Company, a crop handler, had roofs ripped off of parts of a storage system that holds 6 million bushels of grain in Mayfield, Quarles said. That’s enough corn to fill two Panamax vessels – each ship the length of two football fields.
Photos on Twitter showed yellow corn visible from the tops of bins that lost their roofs. The company had no immediate comment.
Another view from my flight overhead there yesterday @agritalk @ChipFlory #AGwx #KYwx https://t.co/CeJ9rmjnTd pic.twitter.com/ClftFdgKEQ
— BAMWX (@bamwxcom) December 13, 2021
“You have millions of bushels of corn, much of which was just freshly harvested, being exposed to the elements, being damaged,” Quarles said.
“We’re looking for ways to recover spilled grain but also divert the storage and movement of grain to other facilities around the state.”
#Mayfield Grain Co demolished by rare mid-Dec #tornado that hit #Kentucky town, @AgWebEditor reports. Storm damaged Pilgrim’s hatcheries, multiple chicken houses, grain systems.https://t.co/f3MbQcyiDZ#mayfieldKY#poultry#KentuckyTornadoes#kentuckytornado#agnews#foodagcikros pic.twitter.com/I3WP4pX9da
— CIKROS Intelligence Solutions (@cikrosintel) December 13, 2021
Quarles said the agriculture department will help farmers find buyers for grain amid reduced demand for feed from livestock and poultry producers who suffered losses.
Hutson Inc, a company that sells Deere equipment, said its flagship store in Mayfield was “destroyed by one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the state.”
Workers “waded through debris and used what equipment they could salvage to assist with rescue efforts at a candle plant located next to us that had mass casualties,” Chief Executive Josh Waggener said in a statement online.
Deere said it is in touch with Waggener and working with Hutson to provide financial assistance to the community. [Reuters, BrownFieldAGNews]
Discover terrifying pictures of these weaponized tornadoes here.
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You should really subscribe to QFiles. You will get very interesting information about strange events around the world.
Bet the HAARP operators all have glass jaws. The U.S. Military KNOW who owns and operates these facilities.
2″ snow in our mountains last night. First snow of the season too, which is not normal. Usually we get more storms by now. Hoping for more, but sun peaking through, and is thawing last night’s snow. Probably get a White Christmas this year.
That’s good I stocked up. Bad part is we are having trouble getting cracked corn feed for our animals here. Also, they eat more in Winter. I’m downsized now, but still have 20 ducks, 4 geese, and a few hens and roosters. So I use 100lbs of cracked corn every 10 days or so in Winter. Summer is 50lbs a week. May have to get a bale of alfalfa if they don’t have cracked corn?
They free range too, so I can let them out in the orchard area I guess. I usually don’t since the geese attack trees when they get wet. They go for the bark like rabbits.
https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-12-14-in-a-world-dominated-by-mass-delusion-the-truly-sane-seem-like-outcasts.html
Health Ranger discusses mass delusion/ mass formation. It’s really a good read, and it will make people feel good knowing they are sane, and the sheeple are the sick ones. Also, tips to stay grounded in reality. ?
Humm… almost seems like those tornadoes were AIMED at their targets to inflict maximum damage on our food supply. Weather weapons??
They were. There was clear irrefutable evidence of weather weapons used to energize and steer the storm. I watched it. However, the bastards doing this have taken to rapidly “airbrushing” the clouds so as to soften the striation lines that look like a pregnant woman’s belly…….or ripples in the water when a stone is dropped. These fuckers will rarely even show the satellite images of the clouds/ storm until AFTER they have airbrushed and colored the clouds to HIDE THE VISIBLE EVIDENCE OF ENERGY WEAPONS USED.
Well, you’re not the only one saying it. Kinda feel like they may have used that HAARP again myself.
Only “skyrocketing”? Not “apocalyptic”?