Meatpacking plants across Iowa have been highlighted for recent COVID-19 outbreaks, and the lone Democratic U.S. House District 4 candidate is speaking out on the topic.

J.D. Scholten tells Raccoon Valley Radio while there is a fine balance between meatpacking plant employee safety and making sure farmers livestock is processed, additional precautions are needed. Scholten wants necessary protective equipment for employees, have them tested for the virus on a frequent basis and allowing them to receive paid time off if they can’t work due to COVID-19. 

However, Scholten notes the pandemic has spotlighted how concentrated the livestock market is in the U.S. He says 50 plants in the U.S. produce 98-percent of beef, while one in four pigs produced in the U.S. is owned by China, and two of the four companies that control 85-percent of the beef industry are located in Brazil. Scholten is calling for enforcement of antitrust laws to help this concentration issue.

“We need to have more plants. When my grandparents were on the farm and it was thriving in the late 60s and early 70s, there were over 10,000 slaughter houses in the nation. And now there’s only about 1,000. Every community needs to have these smaller plants, and I understand that efficiency (is) something that we take pride in. But at the same time if we’re not resilient, if we can’t handle adaptability and flexibility we are going to be hurt as a nation.”

To hear more from Scholten, listen to Monday’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.