GOP lawmakers decry millions loaned by USDA to poultry producer that went bankrupt

Lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and beyond questioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture on its oversight of Pure Prairie Poultry, which filed for bankruptcy less than 24 months after it received $45.6 million in USDA funding for a processing plant it closed Oct. 2.

Republican lawmakers submitted the questions in a letter Friday to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a former Democratic governor of Iowa, the same day the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced it had finished culling over a million birds as a result of Pure Prairie Poultry’s inability to care for the broiler chickens.

Pure Prairie Poultry also contracted farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota, who were affected when the processing plant in Charles City closed and the company informed state departments of agriculture it could no longer afford feed. The letter alleges 2 million chickens in all were “left without feed or any processing option.”

In 2022, the Minnesota-based chicken company was awarded an almost $7 million grant from USDA’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program and a USDA loan for $38.7 million from the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program.

The letter says the lawmakers support USDA goals of “expanding meat processing capacity” and “building a robust national food supply chain,” but have “deep concern” for the department’s distribution and oversight of the grants and loans.

Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra was one of several Iowa lawmakers who signed the letter and, in a news release, called a “serious lack of oversight” by the USDA “extremely concerning.”

“Our letter to USDA will help us get answers for our growers and address the federal government’s carelessness with taxpayer dollars,” Feenstra said, commending Republican Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig for responding “quickly and professionally.”

The letter asks USDA to respond with explanations of the Pure Prairie Poultry account, when the department was made aware of its financial situation and the oversight process to “ensure taxpayer dollars are not being wasted.”

It also asks what USDA did to assist growers and state departments of agriculture in the aftermath of the plant closure, and if the USDA took steps to “salvage” the plant in Charles City.

A USDA spokesperson said in a statement to Iowa Capital Dispatch that the department is working to “help the facility reopen.” The spokesperson said the USDA programs from the current administration have worked to rebuild and create new markets for U.S. farmers after others were “decimated” by trade wars and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To this point, millions of dollars of investments in these lawmakers’ states are providing critically important new options for farmers, strengthening local and regional food supply chains, expanding independent processing capacity, lowering input costs, and more, actions which many of these signers have championed,” the USDA spokesperson said.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who also signed the letter, said in this instance USDA “dropped the ball” in its responsibility to keep tabs on “taxpayer funded grants.”

“USDA must explain to Congress and the public what went wrong to help prevent a repeat scenario,” Grassley said in a news release Monday.

USDA was also asked in the letter if any other projects in the same loan program are financed by the same lenders as Pure Prairie Poultry and if the department has a list of preferred lenders.

The letter was signed by Feenstra, Grassley, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, all Republicans from Iowa; U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn.; U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis.; U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn.; along with the chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.

The letter requests that USDA respond to the lawmakers’ 10 questions by Nov. 8.

A USDA spokesperson urged lawmakers to focus on the farm bill, which has still not passed Congress despite expiring Sept. 30.

“Rather than trying to score political points, those members of Congress should work with USDA to reopen the facility and pass a new Farm Bill, which is now two years late,” the spokesperson for USDA said.

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.