The food and agriculture sector has not received the attention from the government when it comes to national security threats that other sectors have historically. 'Cattle is the single-largest sector of agriculture and a major protein source for Americans.' Food and agriculture as critical infrastructure 'Centralized systems are vulnerable to all kinds of shocks,' Bullard said. JBS, Tyson, Cargill and National Beef are the four dominant players in the meatpacking industry. JBS and its peers are under existing antitrust scrutiny from the federal government. 'This is another demonstration of how vulnerable the beef supply chain is,' said Bill Bullard, the CEO of R-Calf USA, a group representing cattle ranching interests which has been pressing the government for years to do more about consolidation in the beef industry. Cattle futures fell on fears that meat processing shutdowns would suspend the ability to move cows from the pasture and feedlot to the slaughterhouse, while at the same time fears rose about potential price hikes in stores and restaurants.

A hint of those market dislocations was seen again on Tuesday. The ability to delivery livestock to plants was cut off amid shutdowns for health safety reasons, and those supply chains were thrown out of alignment for weeks, hitting both the farms and the consumers.Ī 2019 fire at a single Tyson Foods processing plant in Kansas caused cattle prices to fall and retail beef prices to jump. JBS USA says it has the capacity to process more than 200,000 cattle, 500,000 hogs, 45 million chickens and 80,000 small stock (lambs, sheep, goats and veal calves) per week.Ĭovid exposed how the concentration in the meat processing sector could quickly create unexpected issues related to food security and pricing. If successfully attacked, the hack can result in widespread problems from the cattle on the pasture to the feedlots and into the grocery store.

But that complexity also results in risks that rise to the level of critical infrastructure.įor a hacker whose objective in a ransomware attack is to force payment, a food manufacturing and processing company like JBS, a centralized node in a consolidated industry, makes for a good target. The complexity built into the current global food supply chain can benefit consumers in keeping costs down and providing yearlong access to items grown around the world depending on seasonality.

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