990842 Land O'Lakes Seeks Aid for Pork ProducersAugust 18, 1999Arden Hills, MN - Land O'Lakes has joined other pork industry leaders in calling for increased aid to hog farmers. The U.S. Senate included $325 million in assistance for livestock and dairy producers in a $7.4 billion farm aid package passed in early August. But Steven Krikava, Land O'Lakes director of government relations, says the package falls short of what's needed by producers. "U.S. hog farmers have experienced $4 billion in financial losses during this pork price crisis," Krikava said. "Congress is considering a financial assistance package in excess of $7 billion. As a farmer-owned organization that serves thousands of individual pork producers, we believe Congress should target a portion of the aid package to help save these producers." The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has developed a Pork Industry Action Plan that Land O'Lakes supports. It includes $600 million for emergency income loss assistance payments based on sales during the last quarter of 1998, with a $50,000 payment limitation. Krikava said approval of this specific assistance would help insure that pork producers are financially protected during the current farm income crisis. He also said that Land O'Lakes supports the NPPC proposal for USDA to ship an additional 100,000 metric tons of pork for humanitarian food aid to Russia. In addition, Land O'Lakes has issued an action alert to its local co-op members, urging them to contact Senators and Representatives in support of financial aid to hog farmers. Land O'Lakes is a national food and agricultural cooperative owned by farmers, ranchers and local cooperatives in 29 states. It is a leading marketer of dairy products across the U.S.; serves international customers with a variety of food products and animal feed ingredients; and provides family farmers and member cooperatives with an extensive line of feed, seed, plant food and crop protection products.
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