USDA to spend $50M to subsidize Hog confinement (torture)

[nosmokes]

So right in front of their eyes is the evidence this system don't work, so the classic answer by BUSHCO, do what the industry wants which is throw money at it, but in truth I doubt that the result would be a whole lot different with Democrats in charge. More food for Aid programs but this ain't exactly the healthiest pork like what comes off a real farm w/ a piggery where the animals are allowed access to pasture to run and romp and exercise,get sunlight and forage.
original-hpj

USDA to buy pork for aid programs amid hog market woes

WICHITA, Kan. (AP)--When Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer announced the government's plan to buy up to $50 million of pork products for child nutrition and other domestic food assistance programs, it seemed to be a generous effort to help poor families struggling with high grocery tabs.

But what the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to mention in making the May 1 announcement was that the move was just what the National Pork Producers Council had urged Schafer to do two weeks earlier to reduce sow numbers--ultimately driving up pork prices for all consumers.

Hog producers say they are facing an economic crisis caused by soaring livestock feed costs and that they need higher swine prices to survive. They say they have lost $30 to $50 on each hog marketed, amounting to more than $2.1 billion over the past seven months.

Among them are producers such as Ron Suther, who runs a 300-sow family operation in Blaine, Kan. He sells 435 hogs each month and said he is losing nearly $22,000 monthly.

"We have had quite serious conversations with our banker. They are telling us if this continues much longer we are going to be forced out of business. Nobody wants to look at that straight in the eye," he said. "If this goes on until January there is no way we can survive."

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complete article here