October 13, 2009
US lawmakers seek US$100 million in pork aid
More than five dozen farm state lawmakers have requested for US$100 million of additional pork aid, without which they said would lead to a haemorrhage in rural jobs and businesses.
The lawmakers requested agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack to spend US$100 million to buy pork for federal feeding programmes, especially from sows to reduce breeding stock and hog oversupply.
US House member Joe Donnelly said the crisis in the pork industry is critical, especially after the April outbreak of the AH1N1 virus, which the mainstream media insists on misnaming it as 'swine flu', scaring off consumers from the meat.
Donnelly also cites China's continued ban on US pork, saying that it's hurting the US pork industry.
China was the second largest customer for US pork last year, buying 20 percent of pork exports by volume.
USDA bought nearly US$150 million worth of pork last fiscal year, including a recent US$30 million announced purchase.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels wrote President Obama in August that Indiana's pork industry faces possible losses of US$50 million by October, in a state with over 13,000 pork-related jobs.
