May 2, 2008

USDA to buy US$50 million worth of pork to ease oversupply

The USDA announced Thursday (May 1, 2008) it will buy as much as US$50 million worth of pork and donate it to domestic nutrition and food assistance programmes.

The National Pork Producers Council immediately thanked the Bush administration for the purchase that will help the US hog industry "weather the current economic crisis in the hog business."

Members of the NPPC met with USDA Secretary Ed Schafer on April 23, seeking assistance for producers who have been facing rising feed costs and a glut of pork in the market.

Schafer said Thursday the pork purchase will help those in the US facing rising food costs.

"We provide food assistance to one in every five Americans," Schafer said. "We are working to increase benefits due to rising food costs and to ensure we have full funding for our food assistance programmes."