Governors ask Obama administration to aid pork industry

DES MOINES – Gov. Chet Culver and governors in eight other pork-producing states are asking the Obama administration to take swift action to help out the pork industry, which has been struggling in the wake of the economic recession and the emergence of the H1N1 virus.

The letter they wrote to Obama said the economic crisis suffered by the pork industry is “catastrophic in nature.”

The governors are asking the federal government to spend an additional $50 million to purchase pork products for government feeding programs. They also want a removal of the spending cap so that the U.S. Department of Agriculture can buy more surplus agriculture products.

“The governors that I've talked to are committed to a strong rural economy, as is every Iowan, and I will do all I can to continue to help Iowa's pork industry,” Culver said on a conference call about the issue.

Culver said pork producers suffered their second-worst financial year ever in 2008 as they faced higher feed prices. Unfounded claims about the H1N1 virus have added to their difficulties, he said.

China still bans the import of U.S. pork, despite assurances that the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, can not be spread by eating or handling pork.

The governors are asking federal officials to urge China to lift their ban.

Dave Moody, a pork producer from Nevada, said producers have seen a tremendous loss of equity and little or no profit over the last two years.

“Iowa hog farmers have been struggling for some time, and the financial outlook currently is very bleak,” said Moody, the past president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

Neil Dierks, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council, said average producers have lost about $21 for every animal marketed since September 2007. Since that time, producers have lost about $4.5 billion in equity in their operations, leading to producers leaving the business, he said.

In Iowa, the No. 1 U.S. pork producer, the industry accounts for a $2 billion annual payroll and a $12 billion economic impact. The state was home to 8,300 hog operations in 2008 and saw more than 37 million hogs marketed.

Other states' governors who signed the letter to President Obama included Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina and Oklahoma.