Days after the announcement of the Jan. 20 closure of Tyson Foods’ beef plant in Lexington, the south central Nebraska city is still in shock.
“This was a complete surprise to everyone in the community,” said Kurt McBride, lay leader of Lexington First United Methodist Church and chair of the Great Plains Conference’s Board of Ordained Ministry.
In its Nov. 21 announcement, the Arkansas-based Tyson, Lexington’s largest employer, said it was making changes to “right size” its beef operations, as well as downsizing a plant in Amarillo, Texas, and increasing production at its other facilities.
The Lexington plant employs about 3,200 people, according to Nebraska Examiner. Lexington, the 16th most populous city in Nebraska, had 10,348 people counted in the 2020 census.
“It’s going to have a huge ripple effect, not only throughout Lexington but throughout the entire region. We’ve got so many people who work there who don’t just live in Lexington but in the neighboring communities,” said McBride. “There are so many people that are going to be impacted by this, I don’t think we can wholly appreciate, not to mention the cattle producers in our area. They’re all being impacted by this also.”
The Lexington plant slaughtered about 5,000 head of cattle daily, representing nearly 5% of the daily slaughter capacity in the United States.
A majority of the employees at the Tyson plant are Hispanic immigrants. Census figures in 2022 shows Lexington’s population as nearly 30% Hispanic.
Lexington First UMC responded to the growing international population by adding a multilingual worship service in 2024.
Rev. Ron Harris, Western Nebraska District superintendent, was already planning on attending a joint worship service of the two congregations Nov. 23.
“During the joys and concerns, there was one Hispanic lady who got up and spoke,” he said. “She spoke of it like a death, and that we as Christians shouldn’t be sad, we should be looking for God’s presence among us.”
Harris said that for the older, Anglo members of the Lexington congregation, it was a sad case of history repeating itself. In 1985, Sperry-New Holland farm equipment manufacturing shut down its operations in the same location.
“It was a ‘Oh no, not this again,’ kind of thing,” he said.
Three years later, Iowa Beef Packers opened its plant on the same spot. IBP later sold to Tyson.
Historian David Bristow, according to Nebraska Public Media, wrote “after suffering a 6.2% population decline in the 1980s, Lexington grew by almost 52% in the 1990s, exceeding 10,000 residents for the first time in its history.”
Harris said that Rev. Elmer Armijo, pastor of the Lexington church since July, has been appointed to a task force to determine the next steps for the community.
“Elmer seems to have a pretty good head about what’s going on, even though he’s only been there five months,” Harris said. “He seems to be pretty level-headed and logical about what’s going on.”
Julie Young Neher, a teacher in the Lexington school system — which includes students from 40 different countries speaking 40 different languages — said she is concerned for the families of the community.
“Almost every household will be affected. As a teacher, I am scared for my students, most of whom have a least one parent employed there. Many households have both parents working there on opposite shifts, or have a single parent with many lives depending on this one job,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Our community is facing a major crisis, and no one knows what is going to happen. This is going to affect our schools, businesses, churches, the housing market, the hospital and medical community, the courthouse jobs and beyond. My kids are worried about their friends' lives and futures, and everyone feels lost and heartbroken.”
Bishop David Wilson said he was saddened by news of the closing.
“There is little doubt that this vibrant south-central Nebraska community will be harmed because of the loss of so many jobs. Some will move from the area in search of work, and the Hispanic population — which is quite large in that part of Nebraska and which comprises a large portion of the workforce — will be disproportionately impacted,” the bishop said.
“I pray for wisdom for all who are forced to make difficult decisions in the days ahead,” he added. “May Creator God provide guidance as they weigh options. I ask all those who can provide assistance to do so, especially during this holiday season.”
McBride said church leadership already had met informally about what aid can come after the shutdown.
“It has been shock, grief, a lot of sorrow,” he said. “In our church alone, with our multicultural ministry alone, all the people in that congregation are impacted by the closure. Everybody’s just trying to figure out the next steps at this point.
“We’re trying to gather as much information as we can to see how we can help,” he added.
Contact David Burke, content specialist, at [email protected].