Meat+Poultry - March 2018 - 51

policies governing immigration and refugees has
impacted the industry's pool of immigrant labor,
Stull says. "The workforce that was attracted to
the industry is now precarious," he says.
"My understanding is, from the materials
made public by Tyson, that one of the reasons
they were attracted to Tonganoxie was that it
was within commuter distance from the metro
Kansas City area," close to a labor pool that
would be attracted to jobs in the $10 to $15
range, he says.

WHAT HAPPENED?
"Tyson really went into a buzz saw in
Tonganoxie," Stull says. "I have no relation
with Tyson, so I can't speak for them; but it
was clear that they did not expect the kind of
resistance that emerged."
Stull attended the public rallies organized
against the proposed plant in Tonganoxie.
He also was asked to discuss his research on
the impacts of concentrated animal feeding
operations (CAFOs) on the communities in
which they operate. "While they do come
with jobs, those jobs come at a cost in terms
of increased demands on infrastructure,
on schools, on law enforcement," he says.
"We also know pretty well that there are
environmental consequences."
"People in Tonganoxie really didn't see
any positives that would come out of that
for their community," he adds. "It's a small
community; fairly well-to-do. There isn't a high
unemployment rate there...and so what's in it
for them? Their answer was 'nothing.'"
But what really angered individuals opposed
to the plant, Stull says, was the secrecy
surrounding the project. Before Tyson and local
officials went public with plans for the poultry

plant, the deal was code named "Project Sunset."
The perception, he says, was that Tyson
suddenly was coming into the community,
receiving a bunch of tax abatements, and
nobody bothered to ask residents for their
input. "People were, from the very beginning,
predisposed to oppose it," Stull says. "And
then, once they started learning more, they
became even more opposed to it."
A perceived lack of transparency can occur
when companies negotiate only with individuals
who will benefit from the development. "They
don't meet with educators or law enforcement
or other interests within a community that will
be impacted, often negatively, by this kind of
development," Stull argues.

AGE OF 'RADICAL TRANSPARENCY'

"People in
Tonganoxie
really didn't see
any positives
that would
come out of
that for their
community."
- DON STULL

Enabled by social media, opposition to the
Tyson and Prestage processing plants quickly
coalesced. Barie Carmichael, a fellow at the
Darden Business School's Batten Institute
for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at
the Univ. of Virginia, has spent more than
a decade writing case studies about the
evolving relationship between society and
corporate America. As co-author of "Reset:
Business and Society in the New Social
Landscape" with James Rubin, a former
assistant professor of business administration
at the Darden School, Carmichael says the
current landscape in which business must
operate has evolved on a steady decline of
trust in business that has converged with the
rise of the internet, social media and growing
expectations from the public that businesses
should be socially responsible.
"Social media is just a tool, but who is a
reporter is blurring lines," Carmichael says.

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