Cargill High River Plant Reopens

Jul 03, 2013

Cargill High River Plant Reopens

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Cargill’s High River beef processing plant is to resume slaughter operations Wednesday.

The facility didn’t experience any flood damage, but was unable to operate due to a lack of water capacity tied to the town’s treatment plant. The plant will treat the water coming into the plant on site to ensure it is usable.

Some have raised concern over the plant shutting down for an extended period of time, especially it being one of the largest slaughter plants in Western Canada, processing 40 per cent of the head of cattle from the west.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s said that the short-term closer hasn’t affected the industry. Cargill ramped up its production in Guelph, Ont. and other plants last week to make up for the High River closer.

High River plant employs amount to 2,000 people, many of them directly affected by the flood. Cargill recently announced a $250,000 donation towards the relief efforts with additional funds through an internal employee corporate matching fund.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.