'Pig-jam' is an unusual phrase to be brought up in this morning's news within Germany.
Focus brought up this business article, and it's worth a moment of pondering.
If you haven't paid attention in the past three weeks....a serious Covid-19 'drama' has unfolded in the northwestern part of Germany, and centers on the meat processing plant owned by the Tonnies company.
It was a major operation and required almost daily deliveries of pigs....to keep the output deliveries on schedule.
Well....Covid-19 hit in a harsh way, and shut down the entire plant. Amongst the woes, a sanitation inspection which just added more problems onto the plant.
So here's the big issue brewing....farmers had contracts to provide weekly deliveries. This entire process is backed up now.
Farmers are holding the pigs for the time-being, but they can't do this for a long-term period. One farmer pointed out....the whole system is built on schedules and contracts now, so stalling things for a month isn't something that was built into the system.
The term now being thrown around? 'Emergency slaughter'....which means you'd go and select 300-odd hogs/pigs, and just do a mass slaughter and bury them. The primary reason? Well....animal welfare.
The government stepping in to 'save' the pork industry? It's hard to see how some quick action could fit into this mess....other than allowing Tonnies to reopen, which would violate general public trust.
A crisis situation? It means financial hardship for farmers, and some economic woes building up.
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