U.S. pork producers have asked Congress to act fast when it comes to another round of relief payments.
The USDA says that most meat and pork packing facilities are operating at 95 percent capacity, but hog producers are still finding it hard to catch up from the backlog caused by the coronavirus.
Many put their hogs on diets to slow growth; however, over one million pigs and piglets have had to be euthanized, according to the National Pork Producers Council. This is why they are asking Congress for more financial help.
The president of the NPPC, Howard “AV” Roth, says without swift Congressional action to address this dire situation, him and thousands of generational farm families could go out of business.
The NPPC supports a new bill called the Responding to Epidemic Losses and Investing in the Economic Future Act, or RELIEF Act. The RELIEF Act calls for Congress to compensate hog and poultry producers who were forced to euthanize or donate animals that cannot be processed, as well as revising the CCC charter so pandemic driven, national emergencies qualify for funding.
According to economist Dr. Steve Meyer, “In the 30 years that I have been involved as an analyst, this is by far the largest economic hit that I have seen this industry take... and it comes off of a two year period where we thought we were going to make money.”