Source:  Ann Bagel Storck, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 8/10/09

In a letter sent to President Obama on Friday, the governors of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Wisconsin asked the administration to take action to help U.S. pork producers through a nearly 2-year-old economic crisis.

The letter asked the administration to:

Support at least an additional $50 million of pork purchases for government feeding programs.

Remove a spending cap on USDA's Section 32 food-assistance program so that additional purchases of surplus agriculture products, including pork, can be made. (Congress imposed the cap as part of USDA's fiscal 2009 budget.)

Urge China to quickly lift a ban on U.S pork that was put in place because of the H1N1 flu outbreak and to eliminate other barriers to U.S. pork exports.

"Today, the pork industry is facing an economic crisis that is catastrophic in nature," the governors wrote in their letter to the president. "For the pork industry to remain as vibrant entities in rural communities, we need your prompt actions to assure that our communities and the U.S. pork industry remain competitive world wide."

Since September 2007, the U.S. pork industry has lost nearly $4.4 billion, with producers losing an average of $21.37 per pig over the past 21 months, the National Pork Producers Council said in a news release.

"U.S. pork producers, who provide America's families with a safe, wholesome, nutritious product, are grateful to the governors for intervening on their behalf with President Obama," said NPPC President Don Butler. "These state executives recognize that pork production is a significant value-added industry for their states and for our country."

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.