Pork Crisis Task Force Created
Thursday, 17 December 1998
W A S H I N G T O N (AP)
WITH PORK prices plummeting to their lowest levels in nearly 40 years,
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said Thursday he is creating a crisis
task force to help hog farmers.
The government will also accelerate millions of dollars of planned pork
purchases, Glickman said.
The Pork Crisis Task Force, made up of USDA officials, will recommend
other actions that could help support hog prices.
"We've seen weaknesses in other markets but rarely have we seen
weaknesses where the price fluctuations have been so rapid," Glickman
said.
The secretary plans to meet with pork industry leaders on Monday to
discuss the problem. He said he especially anxious to question retailers at
the meeting about why low farm prices haven't been passed on to
consumers.
"I frankly want to understand more fully why pork producers are receiving
such a small share of the prices consumers are currently paying for pork
products," Glickman said.
Last month, the government said it would purchase $50 million worth of
pork for the federal food assistance programs in an effort to boost prices.
But prices have still continued to slip because of an oversupply of hogs. In
some parts of the country, prices have dropped to less than $10 per
hundredweight. That means a 250 pound hog that used to fetch about
$120 dollars for a farmer is now bringing in less than $50.
On Monday, the head of the National Pork Producers Council and the 50
state leaders of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest
farming organization, each sent letters to Glickman asking for help.
"Never before have U.S. pork producers experienced such a devastating
economic state," said NPPC president Donna Reifschneider.
The Farm Bureau presidents wrote to Glickman that without immediate
action, "the entire structure of the industry will be irreparably damaged."
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also wrote a letter of appeal to Glickman and
suggested a humanitarian shipment of hogs for Honduras, Nicaragua and
the Dominican Republic or Mexico.
Officials must work "quickly to further address this crisis before thousands
of pork producers are forced out of business," Durbin said.
Glickman said the $50 million government pork purchase would be
expedited to provide immediate relief, including a $3.1 million purchase of
4 million pounds this week. Pork purchases will also likely be included in
an export package to Korea and other government agencies are being
encouraged to increase their purchases of pork, he said.
The department will also soon conduct an internal review of concentration
and consolidation within the entire livestock industry to see how it is
affecting the pricing problem, Glickman said.
To help ease the pressure of loans, Glickman has ordered the Farm
Service Agency to help farmers applying for loans by basing pork prices
on futures contracts rather than the current lower market prices. The
agency will also soon allow some producers to shift payments due in 1999
to the end of their loan period. |
