Local lawmakers are banding together to ask for additional funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's programs to help pork producers who have been forced to thin their herds.
Fourteen senators, including Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin all signed a letter sent to federal leaders on Monday, May 11.
The letter indicated that hog farmers across the country were set to have a profitable year after going through trade disputes. Now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, these farmers have come upon hard times and are estimated to have lost a combined $5 billion.
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“The crisis is immediate," read the letter. "Pork producers send to market over two million pigs each week. If twenty percent of processing is idle, that means somewhere around 400,000 animals per week must be disposed of in some manner other than processing."
“Sadly, pork producers here in Iowa and around the country have had to make tragic decisions to euthanize animals intended for the food supply,” National Pork Producers President-Elect Jen Sorenson, communications director for Iowa Select Farms said. “That goes against every farming instinct. We need significant help to support U.S. pork producers that generate more than 500,000 jobs and $23 billion in personal income across America."