Is USDA still funding pig barn building?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to offer loans to farmers to build big barns at the same time as it tries to cut the pig population, charges an anti-big pig barn organization.

The Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement is petitioning federal Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who happens to be from Iowa, to suspend all loans to specialized hog and poultry operations. "USDA is currently guaranteeing loans to new production facilities, which contribute to over-supply in an already saturated marketplace," says an open letter to Vilsack published in early August.

The letter points out that the USDA committed $25 million for pork and poultry meat purchases to stabilize prices resulting from over-production and, in June, Vilsack requested another $50 million bailout for factory farms.

The current USDA policy is inconsistent with previous industry downturns, the anti-factory farm organization says, quoting from a Farm Service Agency (FSA) letter it says was published in the Federal Registry in January of 1999.

That statement said: "It is inconsistent with USDA policies for FSA to continue to finance construction of additional production facilities through direct loans and loan guarantees while other agencies within USDA expend resources to ameliorate over-supply conditions." BP