Dorchester Times: Elimination Of Farmland Jobs Would Seriously Impact Area Economy

Friday, October 11, 2013

Elimination Of Farmland Jobs Would Seriously Impact Area Economy

Most readers of the Dorchester Times are likely aware that Chinese meat processor Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. this past spring purchased Smithfield Foods Inc. for about $4.72 billion. The transaction has real implications for our area economy since Smithfield owns the Farmland Foods facility in Crete, which currently employs nearly 2,000 workers.

Smithfield CEO Larry Pope said in a May 2013 conference call: "This is not a strategy to import Chinese pork into the United States ... this is exporting America to the world."

But will the sale of Smithfield to the Chinese also mean America is exporting more of its manufacturing jobs overseas?

The Dorchester Times has heard, from multiple individuals in our area, that Shuanghui Holdings may eliminate at least half of the meat processing jobs in Crete -- bypassing local workers, opting instead to ship the frozen carcasses to China and do most of the post-slaughter finishing there. Such a move would also eliminate some or most of the need for the cold storage facilities just to the north of the Farmland facility.

The Times has been unable to confirm whether the speculations we've heard are true. As far as we know, the sale has not yet been finalized by federal regulators. But if a majority of jobs at the Crete plant are cut, it will have a ripple effect on the Saline County economy -- impacting everything from the county's property tax base, to labor availability, to housing values and rental rates in the Crete/Wilber/Dorchester area, to the viability of retail and restaurants.

This is one development that's worth watching.

2 comments:

DavidOctober 13, 2013 at 3:23 PM
We, the Consumer, allow things like this to happen. We continure to purchase products that are made by companies located overseas.

Will Farmland be operating in Crete a couple of years from now? We will see, won't we?

Personally, I will not purchase any Smithfield product from now on. Period.

As for as CEO Larry Pope saying..."this is exporting American to the world...."
Larry, you can't put lipstick on a pig....
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THE ROCKET MANOctober 13, 2013 at 8:35 PM
I agree with David, but I'll bet it's not for the same reasons. He's right that it is the American consumer who allows things like this to happen. In this case of Farmland, it's primarily due to:

1.) Change of the American diet. I'm in my early 30s. I never eat red meat or pork. Most of my friends follow the same eating habits. Nothing against beef or piggy, but they just don't appeal like they did to my parents or grandparents.

2.) Zoning regulations. When fewer and fewer people raise livestock, livestock operations get bigger and bigger. Most people in the country whine, pout and throw a tantrum when a hog producer tries to get bigger or expand to a new site. And 95% of those throwing a hissy are farmers who don't want the aroma encroaching their country air. Farmers take most of the blame for driving the hog industry away.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."