Minnesota’s turkey industry is assessing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are a lot of moving parts. “We don’t know everything that might happen. We’re taking a look at the process behind a worse case scenario for economic loss and depopulation,” said Sarah Anderson, executive director, Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. “We hope we don’t have to go down that route, but we need to be prepared.” The association is working with federal lawmakers to get help from the USDA. The agency said they would purchase $50 million in turkey products through Section 32 funds. Anderson said this is a great start, but the turkey industry is hopeful for more relief resources including indemnity payments. “Under the current law, if your bird is sick the USDA would be able to help with the depopulation and disposal costs. How it’s written now, they wouldn’t be able to evoke indemnity to cover the costs in the situation of a pandemic. We hope to get this changed and we can secure more product purchases.”
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