COVID-19 amplifies local meat supply chain issues in South Carolina

Abstract

Before COVID-19, livestock producers across the U.S. had been complaining to Congress about a lack of meat processing options closer to their farms (Swanson, 2015). Publications used examples of farmers shipping their animals hundreds of miles to be processed (Miles, 2012) and placed the blame on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and industry regulations (Linnekin, 2016). Others have warned that decades of consolidation of meat-processing facilities have left fewer reliable options for livestock farmers, threatening the farm-to-table economy (Shanker, 2017). . . .