The National Pork Producers Council is asking the USDA to help producers deal with the market challenges of the coronavirus. “We need more than $1 billion in pork purchases by the USDA to clear out a backed up meat supply, direct payments to producers without eligibility restrictions and we also hope to see China remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. pork,” said A.V. Roth, president, NPPC. A suspension of operations in some of the U.S. pork packing plants isn’t helping the situation. Limited slaughter capacity, along with a surplus of pigs, is causing hog values to decline. A lack of food service is also leading to a challenge in food storage. “If this continues longer term, it will impact on the availability of products,” said Neil Dierks, CEO, NPPC. “At this juncture, we have pipelines full and pork in storage, but it creates a terrible situation on the farm.”
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