Smithfield closing 10 county farms

Ninety-two workers at 35 farms in north central Missouri councies will lose their jobs in early October

PRESTON COLE

Princeton Post-Telegraph

PRINCETON The 30-year-plus era of large-scale hog production in Mercer County and two neighboring counties will end early this fall, after Smithfield Foods met its legal requirement to inform a state agency of its plans.

Smithfield announced early last week that it was closing 35 hog farm sites in Mercer, Sullivan and Putnam counties. Ten of the farms are in Mercer County in the Princeton area, 13 are near Newtown in Sullivan County, and 12 are in the Lucerne area in Putnam County.

Smithfield Foods, said in the notice that it is “reducing its hog farming operations” across Missouri, and “must reduce its workforce accordingly.” The notice affects salaried and hourly employees.

Neither Smithfield Foods or the WARD data identified the specific farms that will be closed.

Employees affected by the layoffs have the opportunity to move to another Smithfield facility, as long as a position is available that doesn’t displace other employees.

PRESTON COLE/Princeton Post-Telegraph

A billboard advertising jobs with Smithfield Farms was still up Monday morning, Aug. 11, along the west side of U.S. 65 north of Princeton, after the company announced a week earlier that it was closing 35 hog farms in north central Missouri, 10 in Mercer County, a move that will see 92 employees lose their jobs.

The Chinese-owned company followled the Missouri Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act when it notified the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development of its plans to close the plants on Oct. 8, a move that will see 92 employees on company-owned farms lose their jobs.

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