PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, plant and equipment (“PP&E”), net consisted of the following:


	March 31, 2024		December 31, 2023
	(In thousands)
Land	$	280,943	$	273,846
Buildings	2,197,619		2,170,716
Machinery and equipment	4,015,810		3,953,008
Autos and trucks	99,938		93,858
Finance lease assets	4,736		5,550
Construction-in-progress	422,234		458,146
PP&E, gross	7,021,280		6,955,124
Accumulated depreciation	(3,869,496)		(3,796,721)
PP&E, net	$	3,151,784	$	3,158,403

The Company recognized depreciation expense of $95.2 million and $90.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and March 26, 2023, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company incurred $99.1 million on capital projects and transferred $133.7 million of completed projects from construction-in-progress to depreciable assets. During the three months ended March 26, 2023, the Company incurred $131.7 million on capital projects and transferred $117.8 million of completed projects from construction-in-progress to depreciable assets. Capital expenditures in accounts payable and accrued expenses for the periods ended March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 were $37.6 million and $46.9 million, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company sold certain PP&E for $2.2 million in cash and recognized a net loss of $1.8 million on these sales. During the three months ended March 26, 2023, the Company sold a farm in Mexico and other miscellaneous equipment for cash of $12.6 million and recognized a net gain of $9.3 million on these sales.

The Company has closed or idled various facilities in the U.S. and in the U.K. The Board of Directors has not determined if it would be in the best interest of the Company to divest any of these idled assets. Management is therefore not certain that it can or will divest any of these assets within one year, is not actively marketing these assets and, accordingly, has not classified them as assets held for sale. The Company continues to depreciate these assets. As of March 31, 2024, the carrying amounts of these idled assets totaled $57.6 million based on depreciable value of $216.1 million and accumulated depreciation of $158.5 million. Idled asset values include those assets that are no longer in use as a result of the recent restructuring activities of our Europe segment.

As of March 31, 2024, the Company assessed if events or changes in circumstances indicated that the asset group-level carrying amounts of its PP&E held for use might not be recoverable. There were no indicators present that required the Company to test the recoverability of the asset group-level carrying amounts of its PP&E held for use at that date.