The Tyson Foods facility in Lexington, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
LEXINGTON — The announcement came at 3 p.m. on a Friday, the largest employer in Lexington abruptly announced that it would be ending operations. Community leaders were left to absorb the news and gather information about an uncertain future.
The notice that Tyson Foods employees received on Friday read “Mass Layoff, Lexington, Nebraska.” The company said it made the “difficult decision to cease certain operations at its Lexington, Nebraska complex.”
Employees were told that operations would cease on or about Jan. 20, 2026. In addition to the closure, Tyson announced its Amarillo, Texas facility would move to a single, full capacity shift.
The news hit the community like a bombshell.
Tyson in Lexington employed nearly 3,200 people and could slaughter around 5,000 cattle per day. It is one of 11 beef segment facilities in the company and one of the largest.
John Fagot, Lexington Mayor, said that the City of Lexington was in the process of gathering facts and information about the closure. He said they would be having conversations with Tyson, the state of Nebraska, federal government and the community in the near future.
Fagot noted with the announcement coming on a Friday, the city was still in the process of getting a plan together. He said that more information would be coming from the city in the future as more concrete information is obtained.
Fagot said right now the city is focused on taking care of the citizens of the community and doing right by them in this time.
John Hakonson, superintendent of the Lexington Public Schools district, said that Friday’s announcement from Tyson caught everyone off guard.
He noted that attendance in school on Monday was good, he said an announcement was read to the students based on their grade level regarding the situation.
As for the future of the district, Hakonson said there is uncertainty, with an open question being of how many families choose to move out of the community.
He said the administration plans to meet with teachers, as well as with community agencies as the town finds its way forward with some common ground.
At the moment, Hakonson said the district is taking things one day at a time and their decisions will ultimately rest on the decisions of the working families. He noted the school district employees were assured their positions were secure during the current school year.
For the moment, the Lexington school district continues to monitor the developing situation.
Clay Patton, vice president of the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce, said the closure of the Tyson facility will have a major economic impact on the community.
Patton noted much rests on what Tyson decides to do with the facility itself.
U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb in his own comments noted that after Tyson closed its Norfolk plan in 2005, it “stripped the plant bare” and the property couldn’t be used as a beef processing facility. Flood said the plant still sits empty today.
“As they wind down their Lexington plant, Tyson needs to preserve it, so it can remain a beef processing operation and keep good paying jobs in Dawson County that support our ag communities,” Flood said.
Patton noted that the Lexington school district educates around 3,000 students and that many of them have parents who were employed by Tyson.
Another issue is that the City of Lexington has been steadily building houses since 2016 to meet the demand for housing. Patton said three large housing developments in the community had been completed within the past 24 months.
Patton said that Sustainable Beef in North Platte, Gibbon Packing of Gibbon and JBS of Grand Island all had a presence in Lexington over the weekend looking to attract Lexington workers to their facilities.
Patton cited the history of the facility, noting that it had been home to Sperry-New Holland but at the height of the Farm Crisis in 1985 had announced it would close the plant and eliminate 940 jobs.
“In a three-year span, Lexington also lost a cultivation equipment maker that employed 120, and a hardware store that was the city’s biggest downtown retailer. City Manager Bill Podraza said that at one point, twenty-six buildings stood vacant in the commercial part of town,” according to a 2022 article by the Nebraska State Historical Society.
In 1988, Iowa Beef Products (IBP) announced it would purchase the plant and convert it to a meatpacking facility that would employ around 1,300 workers at the time. IBP would be acquired by Tyson Foods in 2001.
Patton said the chamber hopes that some business can be found to fill the void but noted that it took five years in the late 1980s and early 1990s to fill the space left by Sperry-New Holland. He said it could be another multi-year interruption in finding a new industry.
Patton noted right now there are many unknowns and that the shock is still fresh for many in the Lexington community.
According to the Farm Journal website, Tyson Foods reported operating loss for the beef division of $1.135 billion for the fiscal year ending September 27, 2025 with adjusted operating losses of $426 million also released by the company. Tyson also reported its cattle costs were up $1.575 billion versus a year ago.”
In a Nov. 10 news release the company stated that USDA projects domestic beef production will decrease approximately 2% in fiscal 2026 as compared to fiscal 2025. Therefore anticipate adjusted operating loss is estimated between $(600) million to $(400) million in fiscal 2026.
“Record fed and feeder cattle prices during 2025 have been a result of a 70 year low in the cattle herd tied to consecutive years of drought in major cattle producing regions of the United States,” per the Farm Journal website.
