House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson called on the Federal government to address the building stress and challenges facing the nation’s pork producers in a letter.
Processing plants have had to close due to COVID-19 outbreaks and that leaves pork producers with no place to take hogs which need to be slaughtered and processed, and finding room on their operation is tricky.
Peterson is urging Vice President Mike Pence to direct the Task Force to:
·Coordinate between all involved Federal, state, and local governments to provide urgent assistance to impacted farmers;
·Develop standards for humane euthanasia and disposal of impacted animals as well as outreach on existing financial and technical assistance resources available to producers;
·Provide flexibility to use all available state and Federal processing capacity to the maximum extent possible to minimize supply chain disruption;
·Issue Federal guidance on best practices to prevent COVID-19 transmission in plants;
·Provide access to adequate COVID-19 testing for plant workers and communities;
·Provide sufficient personal protective equipment for all plant workers and federal meat inspectors;
·Develop resources and conduct outreach to help farmers deal with added stress during this difficult time; and
·Utilize any other means at the Task Force’s disposal to support farmers, processing plant workers, and plant communities.
Comments