Congress needs to consider funding efforts at USDA to help hog producers forced to depopulate herds due to the COVID-19 impacts on pork processing facilities, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and 11 Senate colleagues said in a letter to House and Senate leaders.
“The downstream impact of idled plants is full farms, creating an animal welfare crisis due to overcrowding and the challenge of providing enough feed and water available to each animal,” the letter said. Idling of processing plants means there is an “immediate need to establish processes whereby some portion of the herd is humanely euthanized to prevent animal suffering. Failure to have a sensible and orderly process for thinning the herd will lead to animal health issues, environmental issues, and pork producers going out of business.”
This means pork producers “need assistance now,” the letter said, noting that if 20% of U.S. pork processing capacity is idled, that means some 400,000 hogs per week have to be disposed of in some manner. “Accordingly, government support is needed in the management of a sensible depopulation of the herd until plant operations stabilize,” the letter said. “We must prioritize funding to indemnify producers who are depopulating herds due to processing plant closures.”
The lawmakers added that authority for such programs at USDA “should be authorized as quickly as possible.”
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