USDA to help US pork producers

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently said the USDA will lend assistance to the U.S. pork industry to help it weather a nearly two-year economic crisis that has put some producers out of business.

The USDA agreed to purchase up to $30 million pork products, which will be used for various federal food programs. The department also is working to reopen pork export markets that closed in the wake of the H1N1 flu outbreak.

“The action by USDA to buy additional pork will benefit America’s pork producers, the U.S. economy and the people who benefit from government food programs,” said NPPC President Don Butler.

The NPPC recently sent a letter to Vilsack, urging the USDA to address a crisis that since September 2007 has seen producers losing an average of more than $21 on each hog marketed.