JWV Pork closes Washington site, lays off 65

WASHINGTON — Major Washington Pork Producer JWV Pork laid off 65 employees Jan. 1, according to a statewide collection of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) Act notices published by Iowa Workforce Development. In an email, the state agency said JWV was closing its site at 2504 Quince Avenue in Washington, “causing the layoffs to occur.”

JWV Pork co-owner Heidi Vittetoe declined to comment, but said she and co-owner Jerome Vittetoe “may have more to say in the future.”

The pork producing company was hit with a lawsuit Sept. 1, saying it was in default over nearly $39 million of debt to Farm Credit Services of America PCA and FCLA.

By Sept. 14, a court in Linn County ordered JWV to turn over its assets to Focus Management Group (FMG,) a Chicago-based turnaround management firm that has since sold at least $16 million of the collateral to various buyers. Legal records say a company called Growthland planned to help FMG sell much of the property over the course of 90 days, by Jan. 10.

The closure will likely have a massive impact on the Washington community, where the Vittetoes are known not just as major employers, but for countless event sponsorships, food donations and personal volunteerism every year. Court documents initially suggested the receivership wouldn’t leave employees high and dry.

“A critical aspect of JWV’s ongoing operations is maintaining a complete and competent support staff of workers to care for the animals, ensure that adequate feed and supplements are delivered timely, and moving the animals from gestation and nursery operations though weaning and finishing,” said a report from the Chicago-based company, filed in the court docket Oct. 3. “FMG developed an employee retention plan for employees and received approval of the lenders in support of this budget item.”

The 65 employees laid off don’t represent all of JWV’s workforce. While an exact count of JWV’s numbers wasn’t immediately available, WARN Act notices are only required from companies that employ over 100 staff.

The list of buyers is diverse. Some of the names — like the Thomas E. Vittetoe Revocable Trust and KeWash Farms LLC — are familiar to folks in Washington, while others — like MATEJASU Farms and LandQuest Holdings — are locally unknown, and have no primary address registered with the Iowa Secretary of State. An appendix describing what assets each company bought was not publicly available on the court docket.

Public speculation has widely held that JWV Pork had felt the impacts of a tumultuous pork market, where producers say hogs in recent months have sold for $40 less apiece than it costs to grow them. The loss adds up fast for a company like JWV, which markets roughly 400,000 pigs a year, according to a 2019 article from PorkBusiness.com.

The receiver’s report, however, offered newfound context on the default, describing discussions with JWV’s veterinary support organization.

“As part of these discussions, the Receiver learned of significant infectious disease instances that severely impacted JWV’s operations during the winter of 2022 and spring of 2023,” the report said. “FMG worked with JWV’s veterinary support organization to make plans to mitigate the chance of reoccurrence during fall manure pumping operations and throughout the flu season.”

The report did not specify the infectious disease in question.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com