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Trump administration plans to buy milk and meat from U.S. farmers as part of $15.5 billion aid amid pandemic

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:


  • Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration is planning to buy milk and meat from US farmers.
  • The move is a part of an initial $15.5 billion effort to help US farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • The decision comes after the administration was pressed as growers and ranchers struggle to get their goods to market due to lockdowns.

The Trump administration is planning to purchase milk and meat from U.S. farmers as part of an initial $15.5 billion aid to help them cope with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday.

The decision comes amid rising pressure from the U.S. farm lobby for government purchases as growers and ranchers struggle to get their goods to market because of disruptions caused by the pandemic, forcing some of them to throw out their supplies.

“We want to purchase as much of this milk, or other protein products, hams and pork products, and move them into where they can be utilized in our food banks, or possibly even into international humanitarian aid,” Perdue said in an interview on Fox News.

The Agriculture Department will spend up to $15.5 billion in the initial phase of its plan to help the nation’s food supply chain against the impacts of the outbreak, the first big push to ensure the pandemic doesn’t trigger consumer food shortages, Reuters reported on Monday.

Several meatpacking plants have close down as workers fall ill or die from the coronavirus. On Sunday, the world’s biggest pork processor Smithfield Foods said it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a number of coronavirus cases among staff and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers.

Reuters also reported that some dairy farmers have also been dumping milk because they lost their regular buyers. They also have a short supply of laborers and truckers to work farms and deliver produce.

On Tuesday, the National Pork Producers Council, which represents U.S. hog farmers, called on the administration to help by purchasing more than $1 billion in pork, and using it to supplement food bank programs facing increased demand due to rising unemployment, Reuters added.

Lawmakers and other industry sectors have shown support about the plan of government purchases of farm goods.

Source: AOL

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