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Perdue Says All Ag The Midwest Cattleman · April 23, 2020 · P10

Part of $16 Billion NCBA Responds To News

Direct Payment Plan Of Beef Packing Plant

By John Herath Closure Due To COVID-19
All sectors of agriculture, purchasing program trying
including produce, specialty to take this dislocated food NCBA CEO Colin Woodall through the marketplace at
crops and horticulture, will out of our supply chain that released the following state- a time when cattle producers
be included in a $16 billion had been going into food ser- ment regarding the recent are already suffering from
direct payment plan to be vice institutions and move it announcement that JBS will market uncertainty and eco-
submitted to the White House back into our food banks and shutter its Greeley, Colo., beef nomic hardship. Every mem-
last week by USDA Secretary other non-profits to help pro- processing plant in the wake ber of the beef supply chain
Sonny Perdue. The secretary vide the needed food for peo- of the COVID-19 outbreak. relies on processing plants
also told Farm Journal Live ple who are staying at home.” "NCBA is concerned about operating daily to keep prod-
that the plan will also include Perdue said the adminis- the closure of the JBS-owned uct moving. America's cat-
$2-3 billion in beef packing plant in Greeley, tlemen and cattlewomen are
food purchas- Colo. The company reports hopeful that any beef process-
es to be send the plant is closing for a two- ing plants which have been
to the nation’s week period after several em- slowed or closed as a result
food banks. ployees fell ill. Beef produc- of the COVID-19 outbreak
“This first ers mourn the loss of the two return to full operation as
tranche is prob- employees who died as a re- quickly as possible.
ably going to sult of the virus and we em- "Currently, there is no
16 to 18 billion pathize with plant workers shortage of beef and consum-
dollars, 16 [bil- who are being affected by the ers can continue to be con-
lion] in direct outbreak. We also support fident about the safety and
payments to President Trump's ongoing wholesomeness of the prod-
our producers, effort to keep America's food ucts they are purchasing
really in all of supply chain operational. during this crisis. There is no
our sectors, including cattle, tration will re-evaluate the "The closure of packing evidence that COVID-19 can
livestock, cow-calf operations, direct payment and food pur- plants during this crisis will be transmitted by food or food
hogs, as well as produce, spe- chase programs again later have an impact on cattle and packaging. However, it is al-
cialty crops, commodities that in the year to determine if a beef prices. Plant closures ways important to follow good
have been hurt and then the second tranche is needed. or slow-downs have signifi- hygiene practices when han-
dairy sector,” Perdue said. Farm Journal Live is a cant regional and national dling or preparing foods."
“And other extraneous things daily newscast hosted by implications that will ripple
like horticulture. Any kind of AgDay’s Clinton Griffiths
ag producer will be available streamed live at noon Central
for direct payments. And then every weekday on AgWeb.com the world's biggest pork pro-
we're also going to have about Drovers.com TRUMP cessor, shut a U.S. plant indef-
a two to three billion dollar continued from page 3 initely due to a rash of corona-
by the pandemic, forcing some virus cases among employees

LIFE of them to throw out their sup- and warned the country was
plies.
continued from page 5 tail was dry, and now head- moving "perilously close to the
ing toward her momma, she “We want to purchase as edge" in supplies for grocers.
ing and evening as I drove stopped and stretched just much of this milk, or other Some dairy farmers have
through the herd, I began to like you want to see a healthy protein products, hams and also been dumping milk be-
suspect that, maybe, some- calf do. Her mother came to pork products, and move them cause of a loss of their regu-
thing wasn’t exactly right. her and led her in the oppo- into where they can be utilized lar buyers, and laborers and
Searching the tree lines and site direction from the rest of in our food banks, or possibly truckers are in short supply
forested areas on the edge of the cattle. even into international hu- to work farms and deliver pro-
the pasture, I found the new That evening, I told Judy manitarian aid,” Perdue said duce.
mother, contentedly chewing about the cow and calf stay- in an interview on Fox News. The National Pork Produc-
her cud, but there was no calf ing away from the herd for The Department of Agri- ers Council, which represents
in sight. so long. “I wonder what’s culture will spend up to $15.5 U.S. hog farmers, called on the
As I exited the UTV, I wrong?” I asked. billion in the initial phase of administration to help by pur-
watched the cow’s eyes as “Well, there is an outbreak its plan to bolster the nation's chasing more than $1 billion
she looked down toward a of scours, so she’s just practic- food supply chain against the in pork, and using it to supple-
little creek branch that runs ing social distancing.” impacts of the outbreak, the ment food bank programs fac-
through the pasture. I slowly Whoever said cows are first big push to ensure the ing increased demand due to
walked in the direction of her dumb? Must have been an ex- pandemic doesn't trigger con- rising unemployment.
stare and, in a couple of min- pert. sumer food shortages. Lawmakers and other in-
utes, found the little calf lying In the United States, sever- dustry groups have also sup-
as low and still as her mother al beef and pork packing plants ported the idea of government
had instructed. Rousting her have shut down as workers purchases of farm goods.
from her leafy bed, I could see fall ill or die from the virus.
that her nose was moist, her Smithfield Foods, for example, Reuters