Hurricane Helene has halted chicken processing plant operations and caused severe damage to some flocks, while also downing pecan trees and flattening cotton crops, as floodwaters swamped the southern US.
Wayne-Sanderson Farms said its Moultrie, Georgia, processing facility will not operate any shifts on Monday, according to a post on the company’s Instagram account. Operations at two plants run by Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. were suspended on Saturday due to power outages, owner JBS SA said in a statement to Bloomberg.
Helene, which crashed into Florida’s coast as a Category 4 hurricane before made its way inland, also downed pecan trees and flattened other crops including cotton in Georgia. The giant storm with 140-mile-per-hour winds killed more than 80 people, knocked out power for millions and drenched states including Georgia, South and North Carolina.
“We’re seeing significant damage to agriculture in all commodities,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said at a press conference. Poultry farms, pecan trees and timber operations had been affected, while dairy and food processing facilities were without power, he said.
Damage caused by the powerful storm has the potential to further constrain poultry production growth in the US at a time when demand is surging. Georgia and North Carolina are among the largest US chicken producing states.
On Saturday, Georgia governor Brian Kemp said in a press conference that 107 poultry facilities had been “damaged or totally destroyed by the storm” and that “every commodity in the state has been damaged.”
Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman for JBS, said the company was still examining the extension of the impact to growers.
“We know many birds have been lost in some areas and the damage to some farms has been severe,” she said.
Cotton producers were also hit, with growers affected reporting yield losses from 35% to a total crop loss, the Georgia Cotton Commission said on its Facebook page.
“Losses will extend well beyond the farm, as cotton gins, other agribusinesses, and rural communities will feel the ripples of Hurricane Helene’s aftermath for years to come,” according to the post.
Gerson Freitas Jr. of Bloomberg produced this report.
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