Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : A Bottom in perishable commodities?/war stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Whirlwind who wrote (136)	2/10/1999 9:14:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 178

Hog Farmers Seek $500M More Wednesday, 10 February 1999 W A S H I N G T O N (AP) THE NATION'S pork producers asked Congress Wednesday for up to another $500 million federal assistance, saying they remain in danger of losing their livelihoods. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman indicated that the Clinton administration would not object to additional aid. The government last month announced a $50 million aid package for pork farmers, who are receiving record low prices. That package was aimed at small producers with less than 500 market hogs, paying them up to $2,500 each. The appeal Wednesday to the House Agriculture Committee was for direct payments of up to $50,000 each for farmers. "There are thousands of professional, efficient, conscientious pork producers who are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy through no fault of their own," said Craig Jarolimek, vice president of the National Pork Producers Council. "Their lives remain in jeopardy." Pork producers do not "make these legislative requests lightly," Jarolimek said. He and others said larger pork producers left out of the earlier assistance deal are in dire need of help. "The more hogs you marketed, the more hogs you lost," said Steven Cohen, an NPPC spokesman. No exact formula for the payment proposal has been developed, officials said. Hog prices have dropped to record lows in recent months. Farmers got as low as $8-$10 per hundredweight in December compared to around $45 a year ago. That means a hog that used to bring in about $120 was only worth just over $20. Glickman, speaking later before a House appropriations subcommittee, said if Congress passed additional assistance for pork farmers "I'm sure we would support that." He said that while he recognized some farmers were left out of the package, his department had limited funds to work with. Earlier, an animal rights group protested giving any aid to pork producers. Actor James Cromwell, star of the movie "Babe," said Congress not to give money to pork producers. "This cruelty is in effect subsidized through government support payments and government bailouts," Cromwell said.