DrAcfa 🇺🇸 @DrAcfa

@BlueHorseShoe__ @KINGS1973 Steve, talking with a customer today, he was saying there are many loads of imported 90’s. Enough that we could see decent market impact and response, are you hearing anything that would support this?

@rodgrisier1958 @KINGS1973 2800/day

The history of JBS’ Souderton Beef Plant - RIP Moyer Packing Company—famously known across the industry as **MOPAC**—holds a massive place in the history of East Coast beef processing. For generations, if you were dealing in beef anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast, MOPAC was the gold standard. The story of how a one-man local butcher shop grew to become the 9th largest beef processor in the United States is a classic industry timeline of smart consolidation, vertical integration, and geographic advantage. ## The Historical Timeline * The One-Man Shop 1877 Abraham F. Moyer buys a plot of farmland in Souderton, Pennsylvania (north of Philadelphia) and starts a small, localized meatpacking operation in an area with more cattle than people. * Depression-Era Pivot & Hides 1930s Nelson Moyer buys the business from his uncle, operating as N.F. Moyer Co. To survive the Great Depression and manage byproducts, operations shift down the road in Souderton, and the company rebrands to North Penn Hide Co. to focus heavily on the rendering and hide side of the business. * The Birth of MOPAC 1972 After decades of parallel growth, the family’s beef production side (A.F. Moyer & Son) and their rendering side (North Penn Hide Co.) officially merge to form the modern Moyer Packing Co. * Peak Expansion 1974 - 2000 Moyer builds a massive, state-of-the-art packing plant in Souderton. By 2000, they are processing over 2,300 head a day, generating $600 million in annual revenue, and cementing their position as the #1 beef processor in the Eastern U.S. and the 9th largest nationwide. * The Corporate Acquisitions 2001 - 2008 The family sells the business to pork giant Smithfield Foods in 2001 to anchor the Smithfield Beef Group. Just seven years later, in 2008, Smithfield sells its entire beef division to Brazilian packing titan JBS S.A. for $565 million. ## Why Moyer Packing Succeeded: The Regional Playbook Moyer’s rise was fueled by a highly efficient, closed-loop regional strategy that gave them distinct operational advantages over Midwestern giants: * **The Mid-Atlantic Edge:** While the massive corporate packers dominated the Western Corn Belt and High Plains, Moyer dominated the dense East Coast populace. They built a massive business out of boxed beef, ground beef, and vacuum-packed programs delivered directly to major supermarket chains, wholesalers, and food service distributors from Boston to Washington, D.C., with minimal freight costs. * **Total Byproduct Utilization:** Moyer was a pioneer in 100% carcass utilization long before "sustainability" became a corporate buzzword. Their rendering facility became legendary, converting inedible fats, oils, and bones into valuable animal feed ingredients, tallow, and cosmetic bases. * **The Kosher Market:** Located right in the Pennsylvania/New York/New Jersey corridor, Moyer became a pivotal player in the regional Kosher and specialized harvesting markets, utilizing dedicated rail livestock cars to keep a steady flow of cattle moving through the Souderton plant. ## MOPAC Today The legacy of Moyer Packing is split into two distinct operational pieces under corporate ownership: 1. **The Beef Plant:** The physical processing facility Moyer built on Souder Road remains the beating heart of the Northeast beef supply, operating today as **JBS Souderton**—the largest beef plant east of Chicago. 2. **The Rendering Brand:** The **MOPAC** name officially lives on as JBS’s massive environmental and recycling services division, handling commercial grease recycling, used cooking oil collection, and byproduct processing across Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

JBS meat giant closing Souderton PA plant. globenewswire.com/news-release/2…

@StGeorge303AD I do not and will not buy anything sourced outside the country. But others don’t care and price is all that matters.

In 20 years, the US cattle industry will be a miniature version of today’s. Every single pound of imported beef into the USA is another nail in the American cattle and beef industry. The crack in the dam cannot be stopped. Cheap labor, cheap land values, cheap taxes, and no green movement, along with American genetics, make it easy for Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and South America to raise cattle with high palatability and marbling. The flow will increase, and consumers will accept it because lower prices will matter more than origin. In 20 years, it will be common for US supermarkets to have 90% imported beef on the shelves. You heard it here. The US cattle industry is near its peak and will begin to shrink as cheaper, high-quality meat flows in and is accepted by US consumers. Increasing the US beef herd now will be short-lived because American-raised beef will become increasingly uncompetitive. Logistics, timely delivery, and sheer volume issues remain. In 20 years, the US cattle industry will be much smaller.

@StGeorge303AD The market did it, I hate it.

@StGeorge303AD And that will increase the price of meat, how long do you think the US voters will keep paying the high prices?

@GGunthorp @COag_guy @grok tell Greg the big players are in the protein industry globally, let’s do top 10.

@N5Pennies After 40 years in the meat business, I’ve been around a lot of people I’ve never met in person. After a while, you can read most people. My knowledge and experience is far more important than who I am just like yours.

@CowsnRedbirds I hope for thousands just like you.

@N5Pennies Write it in your little black book you heard it here first

Two years ago, it was hard to find retail meat that came from cattle born outside the US, Canada, and Mexico, with almost all fed and harvested in the US. Today, nearly all ground beef is made from South American lean trim mixed with US fat trim, and there is little to no pushback from US retailers or US consumers. Soon it will include roast and crockpot-type meats in addition to ground beef. Once accepted by consumers, steaks will be next. In fact, some food service operators are starting to dabble in steaks from South America: Angus genetics fed in American-style feedlots in a foreign country.

You make it sound like this is something I want, this is absolutely something I’m against, but I don’t think there’s any way to stop it. And every day for the last two years, I’ve seen changes that I have never seen before and never expected to see in my life. I think I’ll be here in 20 years.

I hope you’re right, but after being in the meat business 40 years, I can say change is coming whether we like it or not. The high cost of operations in the US will make it uncompetitive for Cattlemen , we are seeing it right now. Inflation and high prices will not stop. Packers and Feeders which are primarily corporate organizations, will not be allowed to continue to lose money, more than two or three years. They will close or they will find alternative ways to operate.

@AngusJosie How long will it be before cattle will be raised on the continent of Africa in the southern region?

@tennsquire Exactly, this is why my prediction. US consumers will not pay the ticket if there is a cheaper choice for high quality meat, and there will be.

@CowsnRedbirds For those that are left in 20 years, it will be very specialized. Commodity meat will be foreign because US raised commodity cattle will not be able to compete on price.

@GGunthorp And they will it just won’t be beef from American grown cattle, the consumer won’t care about the origin, the only thing American consumer cares about is price it’s proven over and over and over

@KINGS1973 About as uneventful month of May that I can remember, usually there’s a wave of interest and excitement and nobody wants to be left on the outside looking in. Not this year. The train never arrived at the station