USDA Programs Aim to Bridge Gap Between Food Waste and Food Needs During Pandemic

Super says more federal help is needed, because chicken farmers were left out of the most recent federal COVID-19 assistance package. “Because of this, the National Chicken Council has been and will continue to advocate for federal funds in any next aid package for farmers who have experienced fewer flocks, reduced placements, or increased downtime due to COVID-19,” he says.

Potatoes. The National Potato Council in Washington, D.C., welcomed the $50 million in purchases for its industry, but also says more is needed. “Due to mandated shutdowns, the U.S. potato industry has been reeling from an oversupply of processing potatoes left over from the 2019 harvest,” says Kam Quarles, the organization’s CEO. “While we welcome the $50 million potato purchase, we see it as a partial down payment on the industry’s overall relief needs. More investments are needed to keep struggling family farms operational.”

Quarles says that with 60 percent of all potatoes grown in the United States destined for food service customers, the nationwide closure of restaurants, bars, schools, and entertainment venues dried up the potato supply chain. “We’ve calculated that the industry needs an additional $300 million in USDA potato purchases to help reduce the backlog and stabilize market prices, and we are working with Congress to see that this funding is included in the next economic relief bill,” he says.

Without USDA intervening on a more significant scale, Quarles says the industry will be faced with a 1.5 billion-pound oversupply of potatoes from the 2019 harvest, which would fill the U.S. Capitol 14 times over.

Pork. Rachel Gantz, communications director at the National Pork Producers Council in Washington, D.C., says one-quarter of pork produced in the United States goes into the retail sector, where COVID-19-related closures at restaurants, schools, and food banks resulted in a backup in the pork supply chain. (USDA will buy $30 million of pork from producers this round, and pork producers will receive $1.6 million in direct payments from the CFAP.)

But Gantz says the relief falls short of what’s needed to sustain thousands of affected producers. “Our hog farmers are facing a significant financial and emotional crisis and are set to lose more than $5 billion collectively as the value of hogs has plummeted,” she says. “They also face significant costs associated with depopulation and disposal.”

The council is urging the U.S. Senate to adopt companion legislation that includes the livestock agriculture measures included in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, also known as the HEROES Act. It passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 15, and the senate is slated to begin work on it in the coming weeks. The measures in the act include compensation for euthanized livestock that can’t be processed due to COVID-related packing plant capacity reductions, expanded direct payments, increased funding for animal health surveillance and laboratories tapped to perform COVID-19 testing during the human health emergency, and mental health assistance for farmers who face an unimaginable animal welfare crisis.

Unlike the USDA program, the HEROES Act does not mandate payment restrictions, ensuring that relief is extended to farmers who are most heavily invested in pork production, she says. “Pork producers are facing a significant financial crisis as a result of COVID-related plant shutdowns and slowdowns. Without prompt government assistance, many generational family farms will go bankrupt,” she says, adding that hog farming generates more than 500,000 jobs and $23 billion in personal income.

Dairy. The dairy industry, which will see $120 million in purchases from USDA under the most recent plan, faces similar challenges. In a recent statement, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) in Arlington, Va., thanked the House for supporting critical measures for dairy farmers and their industry partners in the HEROES Act.