Springdale’s Cargill Closure Marks Largest Layoff in City History

The Cargill turkey plant that is scheduled for shutdown in northeast Springdale. About 1,000 jobs will be lost on Aug. 1. (Michael Woods)

Decision-makers at Cargill Inc. hit the Springdale workforce with a body blow this year, but they managed to telegraph the punch.

Cargill, the nation’s largest privately held company, announced in late January that it would shut down its turkey production plant in Springdale on Aug. 1.

This closing will throw about 1,000 plant employees out of work and loom over the livelihoods of 108 turkey farmers contracted to supply birds to the operation.

The announcement gutted Bill Rogers, president of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce. “I’ve been here since 1998 and we’ve never had a closure of this size in Springdale.”

The average yearly pay for plant workers is nearly $46,000, meaning the payroll impact alone will equal $46 million. The full economic impact will be a multiple of that.

But on the bright side, the six months of lead time gave city leaders, state workforce services and even Cargill itself time to prepare plant workers for a new future.

“It’s horrible news, but Springdale and northwest Arkansas is blessed with a pretty robust economy, and we feel like we can give these folks an excellent opportunity to find a new job,” Rogers said.

Chamber officials have been meeting almost weekly with Cargill to ease the workers’ transition, Rogers said. “They’re assisting employees who might need access to computers for resumes and things like that, and the state’s rapid response team [from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services] has been up here numerous times.”

Job Fair in June

On June 20, the Springdale Chamber, Cargill and perhaps two or three dozen companies looking to hire will host a career and resources fair for workers losing their jobs. Rogers said a number of plant workers, perhaps 100 or more, had found other jobs or transferred to other Cargill operations. In all, Cargill, based in Wayzata, Minnesota, employs about 160,000 workers.

“We’ve had a wonderful response, not just from industry and manufacturing, but from the whole business community,” Rogers said.

Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse agreed. “It’s terrible anytime you have an announcement of a plant shutting down like this, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s that our job market is very strong,” he said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got a lot of strong job creators, and Springdale has traditionally led the state or been near the top in the state for job creation.”

Rogers said Cargill had been open about headwinds in the turkey segment for some time. “For at least a year, they were sharing with us how difficult the turkey market was becoming,” he said. “They let us know younger Americans aren’t eating whole turkeys at Thanksgiving, among other consumer habits. So the turkey industry, I think, is certainly challenged right now.”

Turkey consumption has slumped nationwide recently, and avian flu added extra costs to the stressed industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that wholesale prices for frozen whole hen turkeys were 94 cents per pound last year, down a third from 2023.

Foster Farms of Livingston, California, shut down its turkey processing plant in nearby Turlock on May 9, letting more than 500 employees go.

‘Right Move,’ Cargill Says

Cargill said in a statement to Arkansas Business that the decision to close the Springdale facility was not easy, but it was “the right move to make” for its business. “Turkey remains an essential part of Cargill’s protein portfolio,” Cargill said. “We will shift much of Springdale’s production to our turkey processing plants in Missouri and Virginia and will work to minimize supply disruptions to customers. We will honor contractual obligations to growers and continue to process turkey and other proteins at more than 40 primary, case-ready and value-added protein facilities in the United States and Canada.”

Rogers said that Cargill’s obligations to growers may have been the factor that led the company to keep the plant going through the end of July. Eventually, the contract growers may have empty turkey houses if they’re unable to make deals with Butterball, which operates in northwest Arkansas and in February shut down a 180-employee turkey processing site in Jonesboro.

Cargill has not announced its plans for the 360,000-SF production and distribution facility at 730 E. Randal Wobbe Lane in northeast Springdale. It also hasn’t revealed what severance plans laid-off workers should expect.

The Springdale facility, formerly a Ralston Purina plant, has been processing turkey meat and whole turkeys for the holidays since 1965. Workers have varied skill sets, Rogers said.

“We expect to see a really wide range at that job fair, from maintenance workers and machine operators to health and safety specialists, quality control, inventory specialists, administrative staff, salaried supervisors. These people could bring a lot of skills into different jobs.”

Up to 100 workers may seek “upskill” training, he said. “We’ll try to make that happen if that’s what these folks want to do. We’re shooting for 100% [re-employment], but I think it’s easy to be optimistic when you combine all these factors together.”

Rapid Response

Donna Harris, business solutions analyst for the state’s Dislocated Worker Task Force, has led workshops in Springdale since the closing was announced, she told Arkansas Business. When companies close or downsize operations, the state’s rapid response teams roll in with mobile workforce centers, basically customized recreational vehicles equipped with technology to help workers connect with potential employers and meet their job requirements.

Chris McMaster, in his last months as senior human resources business partner at the Springdale plant, praised the chamber and the state for their assistance in a recent LinkedIn post. He particularly singled out the state’s dislocated workers unit.

“I am eternally grateful to this team of professionals that showed up for us, along with the community partners they brought with them,” McMaster wrote. “This group works out of the Office of Employment and Training and is part of Arkansas Workforce Connections.”

He said the team “showed up in force” at the factory to provide Rapid Response Workshops. “These workshops connect our employees with resources, information, and offer continued support. … Friday, the employees learned about retraining opportunities, resume writing and job search assistance, and had many of their other questions answered.”

Information came from Arkansas Workforce Connections, the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, Arkansas Rehabilitation Services/Employment & Training assistance, Northwest Technical Institute, the Arkansas Insurance Department, Credit Counseling of Arkansas and others, McMaster wrote. “Today, my cup is full.”