A bipartisan group of senators are asking the USDA to help pork producers forced to depopulate herds in the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter, the lawmakers request indemnity funds for the immediate crisis. Pork producers typically send more than two million pigs to market each week and if 20 percent of processing is idle, around 400,000 animals per week must be disposed of other than processing. The lawmakers also ask if the authority for programs at the USDA should be done as soon as possible. Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, North Dakota Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer and South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds signed the letter. Read the letter.
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