Chicken Littler

It all started with the collapse of Arkansas’ fruit industry in the 1920s. In need of replacement income, some farmers turned to raising poultry. And then came Highway 71, connecting northwest Arkansas with Midwest markets. In 1935, John Tyson borrowed the requisite funds to make his first haul to Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. Encouraged by the $235 in profits he pocketed, he decided he’d found his calling in chickens. Bolstered by wartime rationing of beef, Tyson Foods was in the sweet spot as the government began shelling out subsidies to poultry producers. In 1943, Tyson took poultry production fully vertical, controlling every step from feed to distribution. Some 80 years on, factory floor innovation was once again cited in yesterday’s announcement that Tyson was getting “Chicken Littler.” Two plants in Van Buren, Arkansas and Glen Allen, Virginia will be shuttered, putting 1,700 employees out of work. Trounced by ravaged margins this past year, the hard decision was taken to, “strengthen our poultry business by optimizing operations and utilizing full available capacity at each plant.”