Today, Congressman David Scott, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, held a hearing to discuss the economic crisis that U.S. pork producers are experiencing.
Since September 2007, the U.S. pork industry has lost an estimated $4.6 billion dollars, with producers losing an average of more than $21 dollars for each hog they sell today. Rising feed and energy costs, the global economic downturn, trade barriers, and misperceptions about the recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza have seriously impacted pork producers.
"Over the last several years pork producers have suffered a serious decline in their financial well-being. Clearly, if this situation persists and producers continue to lose money, many will simply leave farming altogether, which is certainly an undesirable outcome. Something must be done, both in the short term and long term, in order to help pork producers turn their industry around," Subcommittee Chairman Scott said. "Today's hearing outlined many of the factors contributing to the current crisis
and also offered some potential solutions. I look forward to working with my colleagues and other stakeholders to examine these issues more closely and to pursuing ideas that will lead to better outcomes for our farmers."
Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website: http://democrats-agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html. A full transcript of the hearing will be posted on the Committee website at a later date.
Panel I
* Mr. Michael Scuse, Deputy Under Secretary, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Panel II
* Mr. Don Butler, President, National Pork Producers Council, Warsaw, North Carolina
* Mr. Mark Greenwood, Vice President, Agri Business Capital, AgStar Financial Services, Mankato, Minnesota
* Brian Buhr, Ph.D., Professor, Head and E. Fred Koller Chair in Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota
* Mr. Rod K. Brenneman, President and CEO, Seaboard Foods, Shawnee Mission, Kansas
* Mr. Dave Moody, Public Policy Chair and Past President, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Nevada, Iowa
http://democrats-agriculture.house.gov
Source: House Committee on Agriculture
