Tyson Foods Company announced in late November 2025 that it will permanently shut down its beef-processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, on Jan. 26, 2026. Up to 3,212 workers will be fired, including those who have worked at the plant for more than 30 years. This has been a major beef-processing plant that can process almost 5,000 head of cattle per day, approximately 4.8% of total daily U.S. beef slaughter.
The Arkansas-based Tyson Foods is one of the members of the Big Four beef-processing cartel, which also includes Minnesota-based Cargill, Brazil-based JBS, and National Beef (which is controlled by Brazilian beef producer Marfrig), which control 80-85% of all beef processing done in the U.S.
The plant’s closure is a devastating blow to Lexington, Nebraska, but also to the real U.S. economy. This plant closing represents in microcosm what is actually happening in towns and farms across the United States every week. This is part of the physical economy necessary for the perpetuation of human existence.
Lexington’s population is only 10,000-12,000 people. So, Tyson Foods’ 3,212 layoffs affect a large portion of the town population and its surrounding community. It will necessitate layoffs in Lexington’s restaurants, barbershops, grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. The Nebraska Department of Agricultural Economics’ Center for Agricultural Profitability made a study showing that the layoffs, counting direct and multiplier layoffs, will cause a combined total exceeding 7,000 people laid off. The Tyson layoffs mean the loss of Tyson paychecks, that workers use to pay mortgages, health care, food, etc. Their savings will typically run out after three to six months.
Many workers at the Lexington plant are Hispanic, lack a high school diploma, and have worked at the plant for 20-35 years. While non-productive AI/data centers and crypto “mining centers,” are hiring tens of thousands of new workers, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics makes it appear that employment is growing, when the nation’s productive capacity is actually shrinking.
The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level in over 70 years, the result of decades of declining numbers of livestock buyers and fewer younger farmers to replace those farmers who are retiring. Under a cartel system, there is no parity pricing system, which would give farmers and ranchers a price for their products that covers their investments and a small profit, and farmers and cattlemen can’t get credit. As Tyson Foods and others shut down operations, beef and produce are imported from other, poorer countries.
So, this action will reduce the potential relative population density of the planet as a whole.
