September 28, 2009

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has urged USDA to help them weather a nearly two-year-old economic crisis.

 

In a letter sent to agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, NPPC requested US$250 million in financial assistance and other actions that should help producers who, since September 2007, have lost an average of more than US$21 on each pig marketed.

 

It asked the agency to purchase an additional US$50 million of pork for various federal food programs immediately and buy on October 1 (the beginning of the 2010 financial year) a minimum of US$50 million of pork in addition to USDA's annual buy.