Guest writer

Helping Arkansas

Tyson committed to farms, state

Mike Farris is a second-generation poultry farmer in Arkansas working with his daughter, who plans to take over the farm someday.

Dr. Scott Gustin’s love for animals led him to a career as a veterinarian. He works with other veterinarians and animal nutritionists to keep chickens healthy.

Suzanne Finstad is a busy mom with two sons, who also works as a food scientist to make sure meat and poultry sold to consumers is safe.

Mike, Scott and Suzanne are among thousands of people who work hard to produce products for Tyson Foods. We’re proud of what we do, and we care about producing food responsibly. The food we make for others is the same food we feed our own families.

While our company is not perfect, we work hard every day to do better.

Unfortunately, it seems some critics prefer to paint a misleading and negative picture. A recent opinion column from the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and mischaracterized the work of our team members, including tens of thousands who live and work in the great state of Arkansas.

Meat production starts with healthy animals grown by responsible farmers. That’s why farmers are so important. Tyson Foods is one of the leading supporters of American farmers, paying more than $15 billion last year alone to the more than 11,000 independent family farmers who supply us. Some have been raising livestock and poultry for Tyson for decades, and in some cases, multiple generations.

We work hard to make sure farmers are fairly compensated and reward those who do a good job. Farmers who raise chickens for Tyson are paid through an incentive system that pays more to those who produce healthy birds efficiently. Our company helps them in a number of ways, including providing them with chickens and chicken feed-which protects them from volatile grain and meat prices-and providing technical and veterinary advice to help them get the best possible results.

Our contracts with poultry farmers are typically three to seven years; however, we have some up to 15 years in length.

Healthy animals mean safe and healthy food, so we’re committed to making sure the livestock and poultry we depend on are raised responsibly. Our veterinarians sometimes prescribe FDA-approved antibiotics to treat and prevent illness in our chicken flocks. Most of the antibiotics we use are not the same antibiotics used for human health purposes. We also offer consumers the option of chicken and beef from animals raised without the use of antibiotics.

Our business is built to meet the needs of our customers. We sell our products to retail and food-service companies. While we don’t set the prices consumers pay, we recognize that important advances on the farm and in meat production have helped keep prices affordable while improving quality. Experts agree those advances have been good for consumers, and we’re proud of that work.

Contrary to the impression left by Mr. Kristof, Tyson plants help their communities. In Arkansas alone, we employ more than 23,000 people and depend on more than 2,000 poultry farmers. If you combine what we pay farmers, spend on salaries, benefits, taxes, goods and services, and utilities, we estimate that Tyson Foods’ annual economic impact in Arkansas is about $1.4 billion.

Tyson Foods and our team members also are major contributors to local charities and projects. Just during the past five years, Tyson Foods has donated almost $10 million to projects and organizations in Arkansas, and more than six million pounds of food.

Mr. Kristof and others are certainly entitled to make their own judgments about our company. We just wish they would do so after considering all of the facts.

Before he published his column, we provided Mr. Kristof with information about our company, encouraged him to talk to outside experts about the livestock and meat business and even offered him the names of farmers he could call. That sort of background did not appear in his opinion piece.

The work we do to help feed the world is important, and we appreciate sincere interest in helping us do better. As a responsible company, we’ll listen when people have questions or suggestions.

And, with contributions from people like Mike Farris, Scott Gustin, Suzanne Finstad and some folks you may know, we’ll also continue our efforts to improve the way we do business and serve our customers.

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Gary Mickelson is a senior director on Tyson Foods’ Corporate Affairs team and grew up on an Iowa livestock and grain farm. He has been with the company for 27 years.

Editorial, Pages 11 on 03/24/2014

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