The Wall Street Journal - 20.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ***** Friday, March 20, 2020 |A

up by 20% to 50%. “We are at

full tilt right now,” said CEO

Greg Lehmkuhl.

The company has shifted

some salaried employees to

warehouse roles and is calling

temp agencies to recruit laid-

off restaurant and service

workers.

Taylor Farms, to make sure

it can operate if some employ-

ees fall ill, is cross-training

people, such as teaching a

forklift driver to operate a ro-

bot that puts bagged salads in

boxes. On farms, the company

is limiting contact between

workers, sending spinach-har-

vesting crews to work in sepa-

rate vans and instructing them

not to take breaks or eat lunch

with crews in nearby fields.

At the southern Indiana

headquarters of egg producer

Rose Acre Farms, employees

must answer daily questions

about their health, and truck

drivers have been told to avoid

truck stops.

Rose Acre, which has about

25 million hens, is scrambling

to reroute eggs destined for

food service to retail custom-

ers. That includes eight truck-

loads a week earmarked for a

cruise line that has gone dark.

RoseAcreisrationingthe

eggs it supplies to customers.

“We can’t squeeze the chick-

ens,” said CEO Marcus Rust.

AndersonsInc., an Ohio-

based grain company, is iden-

tifying employees available for

travel between its grain eleva-

tors to keep its corn, soybeans

and wheat flowing from farms

to processing plants in case of

worker shortages. Such “pla-

toon coverage” could keep af-

fected plants running in states

like Michigan and Ohio where

facilities are clustered.

At warehouses in eastern

Washington, employees at

Domex Superfresh Growers,

a large grower and shipper of

apples, pears and cherries,

raced to meet a 50% jump in

demand over the weekend—

packing and shipping six mil-

lion pounds of fruit each day.

Grandparents and older sib-

lings have stepped in to care

for young children of employ-

ees. If child-care needs keep

some workers home in day-

time, Domex may add night or

weekend shifts, said Robert

Kershaw, president.

Visa restrictions

Staffing problems could

worsen if new visa-processing

restrictions limit immigrant

workers Domex can bring to

work on fruit farms this year.

Its workforce swells in the fall.

Earlier this week, the State

Department said it would stop

processing most visas for U.S.

entry in its offices in Mexico,

including visas for seasonal

workers, potentially affecting

tens of thousands of farm

workers who enter the U.S.

through the H-2A visa pro-

gram.

On Thursday, the agency

said it would keep processing

visas for seasonal workers,

though the extent of the pro-

gram remains unclear.

In Iowa, the surge of shop-

pers into grocery stores is

helping pork producerPre-

stage FarmsInc. offset slower

exports to China.

Company president Ron

Prestage is nervous, though,

that the virus’s spread could

reduce staffing at the firm’s

Eagle Grove, Iowa, pork-pro-

cessing plant. That could cre-

ate a logjam in the thousands

of hogs the plant receives

daily from farmers, who in

turn depend on getting paid

and clearing out space to raise

the next generation of hogs.

Prestage is talking with

hospital officials and day-care

providers about setting up

child-care options if schools

close, he said. Tyson is looking

at contracting with child-care

providers, or working with

church groups to set up tem-

porary options for employees,

said the company’s Mr. White.

Just weeks ago, the U.S.

meat industry was contending

with oversupply concerns.

China’s reopening to U.S.

chicken shipments encouraged

companies to raise more and

fatter birds, but the coronavi-

rus’s spread in China bogged

down some exports, swelling

levels of poultry and pork in

U.S. cold-storage facilities.

The virus’s spread, and re-

sponses of government and

businesses, changed things

fast. “You have retailers on

fire, and food service shutting

down,” said Russell Whitman,

senior vice president at mar-

ket research firm Urner Barry.

The U.S. is also awash in

milk, but dairies are nonethe-

less hurrying to ensure they

can keep the staple flowing.

ForMVP Dairyin northwest

Ohio, co-owner Ken McCarty is

studying his supply chain for

shortfalls that could prevent

him from delivering milk to

the nation’s largest yogurt

plant, owned byDanoneNorth

America.

He is stocking up on extra

feed ingredients in case trans-

portation grows more re-

stricted, and is hunting for vi-

tamin and mineral substitutes

for the dairy’s 4,000 cows in

case overseas supplies are dis-

rupted. MVP Dairy has also

stepped up cleaning and sani-

tation of lunch counters, time

clocks and door handles.

Nearby, Danone is running

its yogurt plant at full speed

to meet burgeoning demand,

and taking precautionary mea-

sures such as ensuring it has a

longer-lasting supply of criti-

cal raw ingredients than usual.

“We’re in uncharted terri-

tory,” said Mariano Lozano,

Danone NA’s chief executive.

“We make decisions and cross-

correct almost by the hour.”

Rose Acre Farms in Indiana is rationing eggs to meet a burst of demand. Says CEO Marcus Rust: ‘We can’t squeeze the chickens.’

TAYLOR GLASCOCK FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

MeatSupply

Consumers'rushtostockuponstaplefoodshasdrivenwhole-

salemeatpriceshigher,thoughdomesticmeatsupplieshave

beenathighlevels.

Percentagechangeinprice Coldstorage*

*As of January

Source: USDA; cold storage compiled by Steiner Consulting Group

75

• 
  

0

25

50

%

Chicken

Beef

Pork

Mar. 2 16 Pork Beef Chicken

0

0.

0.

0.

0.

1.0billion pounds

As the new
coronavirus
forces big
changes in
how we
work, The Wall Street Jour-
nal is looking at how differ-
ent people are coping with
the stresses and risks.

BYJOHND.STOLL

Bedroom

Becomes

Startup’s

Epicenter

Impossible FoodsInc. Chief
Executive Pat Brown wakes up
at his Stanford, Calif., condo-
minium bursting with ideas.
Typically, he clears his head by
getting to the office, walking
around and exchanging those
ideas with his colleagues.
The coronavirus pandemic
has spoiled that routine.
Mr. Brown’s concerns about
public health and the Bay
Area’s “shelter in place” re-
strictions have him working
from a bedroom that was occu-
pied by his children while they
were growing up. It is an in-
convenient way to run a grow-
ing startup, but Mr. Brown—a
biochemist—knows it is neces-
sary.
Behind him hangs a framed
pencil portrait of his son Isaac,
sketched by his daughter. On a
desk sits photographs, a lap-
top, papers, supplies and a vid-
eoconferencing system that
serves as a window to the
world.
“I do most of my business
through this tiny portal in
Isaac’s room,” the founder of
the plant-based alternative
meat maker said Wednesday
afternoon. The remote work-
space is an inefficient place to
manage the hefty workload
that a crisis brings, leading to
longer workdays and a poten-
tial lack of inspiration.
“If you need to have a con-
versation you have to schedule
time,” he said. “It leads to a lot
more friction in the day.”
Mr. Brown, 65 years old, is
an animated communicator
who trains for marathons to
stay fit. He has set aside a 90-
minute time slot every day
when all company meetings are
banned so employees can take
a breather or walk around.
“We have to fight social iso-
lation,” he said.
Impossible Foods—which
produces plant-based meat
used in Impossible Whoppers,
Impossible Sliders and a grow-
ing number of other concoc-

tions available at restaurants
and grocery stores—has
notched big milestones during
March’s tumult.
On Friday, the company re-
portedly closed a $500 million
funding round likely valuing
the company near $4 billion.
Fresh capital, tough to come by
when markets are in turmoil, is
the lifeblood of a growing com-
pany like Impossible. It races
to improve products and capa-
bilities.
While Mr. Brown’s involve-
ment in securing the money
was largely over by Friday, his
key lieutenants worked
through the week.
By then, the CEO had turned
his attention to his employees
near the Redwood City head-
quarters. It was a no-brainer to
send office workers home, he
said, but suspending produc-
tion at a facility in Oakland
took coordinated consideration
by a scattered management
team.
From their homes, these ex-
ecutives ran financial numbers,
evaluated inventory, and mod-
eled future demand under vari-
ous scenarios. The new capital
injection and contracts with
third-party food manufacturers
that will keep operating indefi-
nitely allowed them to suspend
production in Oakland through
April 7.
Mr. Brown sent a company-
wide note Tuesday night say-
ing salaried, hourly and tempo-
rary workers would continue to
get paid.
“If we were at a serious risk
of not meeting our commit-
ments I would have said ‘we’ve
got to keep production going,”
he said.

Impossible Foods

has notched big

milestones during

March’s tumult.

strong starting point for the

administration,” said White

House Legislative Affairs Direc-

tor Eric Ueland.

Senate Minority Leader

Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who

has spoken several times with

Mr. Mnuchin in recent days,

said on the Senate floor.

Mr. McConnell asked several

top Republicans to meet with

Democrats and administration

officials on Friday, including

Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin, to finalize an agree-

ment. “The Senate proposal is a

bringing in more labels and

trays to package them, indus-

try executives said.

In California’s Salinas Val-

ley,Taylor Farms, a supplier

of fresh vegetables and salad,

chief executive Bruce Taylor

and a team have been mapping

how to quickly move produce

grown on thousands of acres

through 16 processing facili-

ties and onto store shelves.

“It’s a crazy puzzle,” Mr.

Taylor said. “This is war.”

Plans include major shifts

for plants such as one in

Yuma, Ariz., that typically pro-

cesses 15 million pounds of

fresh-cut vegetables a week

into 5-pound bags for food-

service customers. With res-

taurant traffic cut, employees

are prepping smaller bags of

vegetables or mixing them

into salad blends for retailers

such asCostco.

Last week, Taylor had to

quickly truck packaging and

equipment to Yuma to send

vegetables to grocers in their

usual plastic clamshell boxes,

and reroute truckers for a 25%

surge in retail demand.

Cargill Inc., one of the big-

gest U.S. suppliers of ground

beef, frozen turkey and cooked

eggs, has barred visitors from

U.S. plants, is checking work-

ers’ temperatures and is ask-

ing truckers to stay in their

vehicles when making deliver-

ies or pickups. In some plants,

Cargill is stationing workers

farther apart or spreading em-

ployees across multiple shifts.

“The pipelines will refill

normally and there will be

food available through this

crisis,” said supply-chain chief

Ruth Kimmelshue.

Cold storage

Chicken supplies in U.S.

cold-storage facilities recently

sat at their highest January

levels on record. Stockpiles of

grains and oilseeds such as

soybeans have swelled. Milk

production is set to hit a re-

cord this year, and egg pro-

duction should rise too.

U.S. highway-safety regula-

tors last week suspended rules

limiting daily driving hours for

truckers moving food, medical

equipment and other critical

goods, a move some food com-

panies had requested.

Lineage Logistics LLC,,

which operates refrigerated

warehouses that are way sta-

tions for meat, produce and

other goods on their way to

supermarkets, says shipments

from its facilities to stores are

ContinuedfromPageOne

Food Firms

Juggle Jobs

And Routes

WASHINGTON—Senate Ma-

jority Leader Mitch McConnell

(R., Ky.) on Thursday introduced

a stimulus package responding

to the coronavirus crisis, pro-

posing direct cash payments to

many Americans as part of a

larger plan that would also help

businesses large and small, and

health-care professionals.

The Trump administration

has lobbied for the stimulus

package, which could top $

trillion, to include direct pay-

ments, and Mr. McConnell’s

proposal would need support of

Democrats in the House and

Senate before heading to Presi-

dent Trump’s desk.

The plan Mr. McConnell in-

troduced calls for taxpayers to

receive up to $1,200, with mar-

ByAndrew Duehren,

Siobhan Hughes

andLindsay Wise

said on Thursday that the stim-

ulus package must include a

strengthened form of unem-

ployment insurance for Ameri-

cans who have lost their jobs

because of the pandemic.

“So our new employment in-

surance—an unemployment in-

surance on steroids—must have

full payment so lost salaries are

totally made up for, it must be

quick and easy to access, and it

must be broad-based,” he said.

Senate Republicans con-

cluded a closed-door lunch

without agreeing on specifics

on the legislation, including

over the size, frequency, and

method for distributing direct

cash payments to Americans.

In a letter to congressional

leaders, the heads of the Na-

tional Governors Association

asked lawmakers to provide an

increase in Medicaid support

twice as large as currently be-

ing considered.

ried couples eligible to receive

as much as $2,400 with an ad-

ditional $500 for every child.

Those payments will scale

down for individuals who make

more than $75,000 and couples

that make more than $150,000.

Individuals who make more

than $99,000 and households

that earn more than $198,

won’t be eligible for direct as-

sistance.

The government would pro-

vide $50 billion in loan guaran-

tees for passenger air carriers,

$8 billion for cargo air carriers

and $150 billion for other large

businesses, and the proposal

authorizes the government to

take equity stakes in them. The

proposal also includes $300 bil-

lion for loan guarantees for

small businesses.

“This legislation takes bold

action on four major priorities

that are extremely urgent and

very necessary,” Mr. McConnell

GOP Senators Unveil Stimulus Plan

Walmart to Pay

Millions in Bonuses

WalmartInc. said it would

pay special cash bonuses total-

ing $550 million to its hourly

workers and hire 150,000 tem-

porary staffers as the country’s

biggest retailer seeks to man-

age a shopping surge sparked

by the coronavirus pandemic.

The company, which em-

ploys around 1.5 million people

in the U.S., has struggled to

keep its stores stocked and

fulfill online orders as consum-

ers seek to stock up on food

and household essentials.

On Thursday, Walmart said

it would pay a $300 cash bo-

nus to full-time hourly workers

and a $150 bonus to part-tim-

ers. The company said it would

accelerate first-quarter bonuses.

Walmart also plans to hire

150,000 workers through the

end of May in its stores and

fulfillment centers. The jobs

will be temporary at first.

—Sarah Nassauer

DIFFERENTNATIONALORIGINS.

SAMEFAIRHOUSINGRIGHTS.

FAIRHOUSING:THELAWISONYOURSIDE.

Gotohud.gov/fairhousing

orcall1-800-669-

FederalRelayService1-800-877-

It is illegal for landlords and real estate agents to deny

youhousingopportunitiesbecauseofyourethnicity.The

FairHousingActprohibitshousingdiscriminationbased

onnationalorigin.Ifyoubelieveyouhaveexperienceda

violationofyourrights,fileacomplaint.