Agriprocessors facts for kids

The Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa.

Agriprocessors was a large company that processed and packaged meat in Postville, Iowa. It was especially known for preparing glatt kosher meat. This means the meat was processed according to strict Jewish dietary laws. Agriprocessors handled different animals, including cattle, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and lamb.

The company sold its meat and poultry products under names like Iowa Best Beef. Its kosher products had special labels such as Aaron’s Best and Supreme Kosher.

Aaron Rubashkin founded and owned Agriprocessors. He bought the meat-packing facility in 1987. His sons, Sholom Rubashkin and Heshy Rubashkin, helped manage the business. Over time, it grew to become the biggest kosher meat-packing plant in the United States.

Agriprocessors faced some serious problems. These included concerns about how animals were treated, environmental issues, and problems with labor laws. In May 2008, government officials raided the plant. They arrested many workers who were in the country without proper documents.

Agriprocessors stopped operating in October 2008. The company officially filed for bankruptcy in November of that year. Later, in July 2009, a new company bought the plant. It reopened under the name Agri Star.

History of Agriprocessors

In the 1980s, Aaron Rubashkin, a butcher from Brooklyn, wanted to make kosher meat production bigger. He bought an old slaughterhouse near Postville, Iowa, in 1987. This town needed jobs, and the new plant created about 350 positions.

Aaron Rubashkin sent two of his sons to Postville to help run the company. Sholom Rubashkin was the CEO, and Heshy Rubashkin handled marketing and sales. In 1992, Agriprocessors started processing poultry (like chickens and turkeys) in addition to beef.

At its busiest, the plant employed over 800 people. They processed more than 500 cattle every day for kosher meat. The company's sales grew a lot, reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.

Agriprocessors used modern factory methods to produce kosher meat. This helped make kosher products available in many supermarkets and smaller stores across the United States. It became the largest producer of glatt kosher meat in the country. It was also the only one allowed by Israel's Orthodox rabbis to send beef to Israel.

For 20 years, Agriprocessors had a big effect on Postville. It created many new jobs and attracted people from different countries. It also brought a new community of Orthodox Jews to the area.

The Rubashkin family also opened another plant in Gordon, Nebraska, in 2006. This plant processed bison, cattle, and lamb. It employed about 100 local people. Being near a Native American reservation helped the company get tax benefits.

Agriprocessors had distribution centers in Brooklyn, New York, and Miami, Florida. These were also managed by members of the Rubashkin family. The company also had slaughter facilities in South America.

Why Agriprocessors Closed

On November 5, 2008, Agriprocessors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This meant the company needed legal protection to reorganize its finances because it couldn't pay its debts. Several things led to this.

One major reason was the immigration raid in May 2008. This raid caused the company to lose most of its workers. This made it very hard to continue operating. Also, fewer people were buying their products, and the costs of running the business went up after the raid.

The company owed a lot of money to different lenders. Filing for bankruptcy was a way to try and deal with these financial problems.

In December 2008, a court allowed Agriprocessors to get a loan. This loan helped them restart processing poultry for a short time. A special trustee managed the company during this period.

The problems at Agriprocessors caused a shortage of kosher meat across the country. This also led to higher prices for kosher products. Another large kosher poultry producer, Empire Kosher, increased its production to help meet the demand.

In July 2009, a new company called SHF Industries bought Agriprocessors at an auction. This company was started by Hershey Friedman, an Orthodox Jewish businessman from Canada, and his son-in-law, Daniel Hirsch. The plant then reopened and started producing meat again under its new name, Agri Star Meat & Poultry, LLC.

Media Coverage

The town of Postville and Agriprocessors received a lot of attention from news media in the US and Israel. This was especially true after the government raid in May 2008. Much of the coverage focused on the Jewish community in Postville.

Postville and Agriprocessors have also been featured in books, a play, and documentary films. For example, the book Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America was published in 2000. A documentary film based on it came out in 2001. Another book, Postville U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America, was published in 2009. A documentary film about the immigration raid, called abUSed, also came out that year.

In 2009, seven men who were arrested in the raid wrote a play in Spanish. They performed it in churches in Iowa and Minnesota. Also, in March 2011, a TV show called American Greed aired an episode about the story of Agriprocessors.