Washington - Republicans clamored for the government to buy large large quantities of pork for prisons, military bases and schools to help U.S. pig farmers, who are facing the lowest prices in 50 years.
A growing number of Democratic and Republican farm state lawmakers fear sinking pork prices could push some farmers into bankruptcy and force others to kill animals because they can no longer afford to feed them.
There is also concern that the dire market conditions could unleash protests by farmers at slaughter plants in Iowa and Indiana, according to industry sources.
Senator Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican who heads the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the extra pork purchases by the federal government were badly needed by farmers who are losing as much as $60 to $70 per animal.
“The situation of pork producers is dire enough to justify your personal involvement,” Lugar said in a letter to President Clinton.
Cash prices for hogs in some areas of Iowa and southern Minnesota fell Monday below $9 per hundredweight -- the lowest level since the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941.
One year ago, pork producers in the same areas commanded cash prices of $40 to $42 per hundredweight.
Although consumer demand is up, pork products have been pouring into the U.S. market at a faster rate than can be absorbed. The nationwide slaughter of hogs hit a record 2.186 million head last week, boosted in part because of Canadian hogs exported across the border for slaughter.
Lugar also wrote separate letters to Attorney General Janet Reno, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, Defense Secretary William Cohen, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Togo West, urging pork buying for each department's programs.
“The purpose of my letter is to ask that the federal government be as creative as possible in efforts to help the pork industry while providing an excellent value for the taxpayers' dollars,” Lugar said.
Also Monday, some 42 U.S. senators asked the U.S. Trade Representative to add pork to the list of items from the European Union that will be subject to import duties if a separate trade fight over bananas is not resolved.
“Pork prices are lower than they were during the Great Depression,” said Senators John Ashcroft and Christopher Bond, both Missouri Republicans. “Even the most efficient pork producers are being hit by the crisis.”
The head of the National Pork Producers Council met last week with Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to put forward a variety of proposals, including financial assistance in the form of credit guarantees or interest rate buydowns.
“It was a very good meeting. We're waiting to see what response we're going to get,” said a spokesman for the pork council. “Our producers cannot sustain these prices for very long without going bankrupt.”
The pork industry group has complained that too many Canadian hogs are being exported for processing by U.S. plants, adding to the oversupply. A strike at Quality Meats in Ontario could send another 25,000 hogs per week to the United States for slaughter, according to pork industry officials.
Glickman, who is part of the presidential delegation now in Israel, has not yet responded to the pork producers' plea.
“We're sympathetic to the problems that pork producers are facing and are looking at ways that might help them,” a spokesman for the USDA said. The USDA said last month it would buy up to $50 million worth of pork for food programs.
Some pork producers are facing such dire conditions that they may soon be forced to kill animals rather than take them to market.
“We're hearing that some farmers may have to kill animals and bury them in the fields because they can no longer afford to feed them,” said one industry source. “The environmental problems that would set off would be terrible.”
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, the ranking Democrat on the agriculture committee, has urged the USDA to investigate pork pricing and prepare a report by Jan. 6.
The investigation is needed to determine “whether depressed prices are a result of hog buying or procurement practices that may violate federal law,” Harkin said in a statement. “The USDA and Congress need to take steps in the very near future that will help family-size pork producers survive this downturn.”
Meat Industry Insights News Service
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