By Jen Skerritt and Michael Hirtzer

A wave of shutdowns at some of North America’s largest meat plants is starting to force hog producers with nowhere to sell their animals to dispose of them in the latest cruel blow to food supply chains.

Shuttered or reduced processing capacity has prompted some hog farmers in eastern Canada to euthanize animals that were ready for slaughter, said Rick Bergmann, chair of the Canadian Pork Council. In Minnesota, farmers may have to kill 200,000 pigs in the next few weeks, according to an industry association.

“This is an unacceptable situation and something must be done,” Bergmann, who is also a farmer, told reporters Thursday.

Related: Tyson temporarily closes Logansport plant to test staff for COVID-19

The culling highlights the disconnect that’s occurring as the coronavirus pandemic sickens workers trying to churn out food supplies just as panicked shoppers seek to stock up on more meat. Wholesale pork prices in the U.S. have surged in the past week.

Hogs are the latest commodity that’s seeing supplies potentially go to waste as farmers in the U.S. and Canada lose money, with nowhere to sell their animals. Dairy farmers are spilling milk that can’t be sold to processors and some fruit and vegetables are rotting in fields due to labor shortages or distribution disruptions.

Related: Peterson urges Pence to provide more assistance to pork producers

In the U.S., at least eight major meat facilities have seen halts in the space of a few weeks, shuttering more than 15% of the nation’s pork processing capacity. In Canada, Olymel’s plant in Yamachiche, Quebec, that normally processes 28,000 hogs a week closed for two weeks on March 29 and is currently operating with one less shift.

With packing plants closing, demand was getting hit for hogs already fattened up for slaughter, and for piglets that would typically replace those animals on the farm. Prices for 40-pound feeder pigs in the U.S. plunged to the lowest since August 2018, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Related: Managing markets, farm business during COVID-19

In Canada, producers are losing between C$30 to C$50 per head ($21 to $35). The backlog of hogs waiting for slaughter in eastern Canada alone stood at 92,000 at the end of last week, according to the Canadian Pork Council.

In parts of western Canada, producers who normally sell baby pigs to the U.S. are unable to do so due to closures at American processing plants, Bergmann said. The shutdowns eliminate slaughter for several weeks and that creates a huge backlog of animals waiting to move through the system, he said.

Canadian producers are hoping the federal government provides them with an immediate cash injection of C$20 per animal to pay bills and employees and weather the crisis.

“It’s backlogging and we’re fearful the problem is going to get worse,” Bergmann said.

Related: COVID-19: Early estimates of economic impact hard to pin down

There have already been isolated cases of farmers destroying fully grown hogs in Minnesota, David Preisler, chief executive officer at the Minnesota Pork Producers Association, said by telephone.

“Farmers are starting to run out of options with what to do with market-ready pigs,” he said. “There are other pigs that have been born that need to get into that barn space.”

--With assistance from Dominic Carey.

To contact the reporters on this story:

Jen Skerritt in Winnipeg at [email protected];

Michael Hirtzer in Chicago at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story:

James Attwood at [email protected]

Patrick McKiernan

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.