Farm Bureau leaders meet with USDA on livestock
Illinois Farm Bureau President Philip Nelson, Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Lang and North Carolina Farm Bureau President Larry Wooten, and AFBF President Bob Stallman met with Secretary Vilsack last week to discuss the severe economic challenges faced by Americas livestock producers.
“It’s a situation where we’ve got a lot of hogs hitting the market, which is depressing prices,” Nelson, a pork producer from LaSalle County, said during a Friday interview with FarmWeekNow and the RFD Radio Network.
“A credit issue is facing pork producers coupled with a public relations nightmare” due to confusion created when the H1N1 flu in April was mislabeled “swine flu.”
The Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) Thursday praised Vilsack for approving a $30 million pork purchase for various federal food programs. This purchase was made at the request of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and many state pork producer associations, including Illinois.
Since September 2007, the US pork industry has lost nearly $4.6 billion, with producers losing an average of $21 per pig over the past 2 years.
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