Minnesota Pork Plant Could Soon Close, Costing 1,000 Jobs

Owners of a pork processing plant in southern Minnesota said more than 1,000 people are in danger of losing their jobs if a new owner for the plant is not found soon.

HyLife Foods filed notice with the state this week that its efforts to improve business at its Windom plant have been unsuccessful, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

In a memo to the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development, HyLife said it has faced challenges from inflation, high grain costs, foreign exchange rates and the plant’s operational losses.

“For some time now, the company has been exploring several strategic options that would have enabled it to continue go-forward operations despite these financial challenges. Unfortunately, so far, these efforts have not been successful,” the letter says.

Minnesota businessman Glen Taylor and other investors bought the former beef-packing plant in 2016. Canada-based HyLife bought 75% ownership of the plant from Taylor Corp., which is based in Mankato, in 2020.

Glen Taylor, who owns the Minneapolis Star Tribune, sold his remaining ownership of the pork plant earlier this year.

The Windom plant can process 1.2 million hogs annually — about a third of HyLife’s processing capacity.

“Our vision, investments and strong community involvement are a testament that we intended to be here for the long run,” HyLife CEO Grant Lazaruk said in a statement Tuesday. “This is an extremely hard week, and we are unquestionably sad. We are doing our best to share the information we currently have.”

The company said 1,007 would be laid off if the plant closes. Like many processing plants in rural Minnesota, immigrants are a major portion of the workforce. None of them are represented by a union.

Source: www.kimt.com/news/minnesota-pork-plant-could-soon-close-costing-1-000-jobs/article_6c720bb9-6c91-546c-9777-f15e55227417.html

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