Will the USDA’s Small Processors Action Plan Help Provide an Alternative to JBS?
On June 3, 2026, the USDA announced its Small Processors Action Plan, which is intended “to better support small and very small meat and poultry processing plants, improve customer service, and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining strong food safety protections for consumers.”
The Small Processors Action Plan has three main components. The first, “Strengthen Direct Support for Small Processors,” includes $60 million in grants as part of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program and $20 million “to reduce overtime and holiday inspection fees and provide relief for small and very small plants.” This component will also improve communication between USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service and small processors.
The second component, “Improve Policy Clarity and Predictability,” mostly involves making it easier for small processors to find out about and provide input on new food safety regulations that could impact their businesses. The third, “Improve How USDA Delivers Service,” is mostly about improving communication.
Will this help small meat processing plants? It depends. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s policy specialist, Connor Kippe, told Civil Eats that earmarking half of the $60 grant money for intermediate plants (which often already have access to lines of credit and other resources) means that less will be available for truly small processors. And it’s unclear whether merely improving communication about food safety regulations will help make complying with those regulations easier and less expensive for small producers.
Just over a week after the USDA released the Small Producers Action Plan, multinational meatpacking giant JBS announced that it will be closing two of its American processing plants, one in Souderton, Pennsylvania and one in Memphis, Tennessee. JBS says the plant closures—which will cause nearly 2,000 workers to lose their jobs—are “part of a broader strategy focused on growth, modernization, and long-term competitiveness in the United States.”
According to Barron’s, JBS and other meatpackers—including Tyson Foods—are operating at a loss because of record-high cattle prices and surplus processing capacity. Last year, Tyson closed a beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska and laid off 3,200 workers. JBS, Tyson, and National Beef own 80 to 85 percent of US beef processing capacity.
Not that working at JBS is a desirable job. Labor advocates have raised concerns about dangerous working conditions in meatpacking plants for years. These concerns came to a head this March, when 3,800 workers at JBS’s Greeley, Colorado plant went on strike for three weeks. The workers successfully bargained for a $1.50 per hour increase in wages and reimbursement for personal protective equipment, which JBS had been garnishing out of their wages. Unfortunately, these wins were only for workers at the Greeley plant; assumedly such practices continue at JBS’s other plants.
With such ongoing problems in large, consolidated meatpacking plants, the USDA’s Small Processors Action Plan is very timely. Hopefully it will actually benefit small processors and help break up some of the consolidation in the meatpacking industry. Eco-ag farmers should support small plants whenever possible and ensure that the workers who process their high-quality animals are treated well.
