Last week, 90 workers at Del Monte Foods received word that their employment with the fruit and vegetable canning company would be terminated. While the company declined to speculate on the reason for the closing, workers were told by company officials that the Markesan plant would be closing its doors and laying off workers beginning April 26.
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development reported that 11.8% of jobs in Wisconsin are in agriculture, more than half of which are in food processing.
According to the most recent data from the agency, the state’s unemployment rate was 3.1%, a modest increase from Wisconsin’s lowest unemployment rate of 2.4% in April 2023.
Several layoffs in the ag sector appear puzzling with so many businesses on the hunt for new employees. In addition to the Del Monte plant closing, other agribusinesses issues layoff notices for workers over the past months.
ABS Global, Genus Intelligen Technologies
DeForest-based ABS Global, Inc. announced recently that 44 workers employed at its facilities in Dekorra, Waunakee, Windsor and DeForest will lose their will jobs on April 19, 2024, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
The layoffs are the result of company consolidation and the closure of the IntelliGen laboratory at the company’s Dekorra facility northwest of Poynette, Wisconsin. In 2021, ABS expanded the facility, adding 60 stalls to one current barn and construction of another 120-stall facility.
While the Dekorra facility will remain open, the closure of the laboratory portion of the facility will result in the loss of 36 jobs at the lab. Eight other IntelliGen staff positions will be eliminated in other Wisconsin facilities, including one each in DeForest and Waunakee.
Chevron Renewable Energy Group
Citing poor market conditions and low carbon credit prices, the second-largest U.S. oil producer Chevron has announced it was indefinitely shutting down two plants, one in Ralston, Iowa and the other in Madison, Wisconsin.
The plants which have been shuttered since December can process 50 million gallon per year of biodiesel. Twenty-four employees are laid off at Ralston, and 26 in Madison.
Saputo Cheese USA, Inc.
Nearly 300 Saputo employees will be out of jobs as Saputo announced that a second cheese manufacturing plant in southwestern will soon close its doors for good.
The Canada-based group reported that operations at the goat cheese production facility in Lancaster will cease by March 2024.
Lancaster Mayor Stuart Harper told the media his community was “blindsided” by the announcement. Prior to the pandemic, Harper said Saputo and the Grant County community were discussing expansion of the plant.
“It was a decision made by a large corporation in Canada,” Harper told NBC15. “This was a main source of living for over 100 people, which is a big deal in a town of 4,000.”
H&S MFG Company, Inc
Longtime forage equipment manufacturer H&S Manufacturing announced it will be closing its Clintonville facility and consolidating operations to its Marshfield location later this year.
Managing Director Craig Harthoorn told members of the media manufacturing operations will cease in late 2024 with the research and development facility closing its doors in early 2025. While Harthoorn did not confirm that 42 workers were notified of the closing, he said the company was working to retain as many employees as possible.
Last year the company announced the completion of a new 38,000 sq. ft. assembly building at the Marshfield location. The new space accommodates multiple assembly lines with supplemental automation. The company was acquired in June 2023 by Oxbo of New York, according to the company’s website.
