Supporting egg producers during COVID-19

May 08, 2020

Sen. Joni Ernst is urging the USDA to include egg farmers in the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A U.S. senator from the country’s top egg-producing state is calling on the USDA to provide supports for egg farmers in the same way it has for producers of other commodities.

Senator Joni Ernst is asking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to include egg producers in the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP).

The program, which Secretary Perdue announced in April, provides US$16 billion in direct support payments to producers and sets aside US$3 billion for the USDA to purchase produce, dairy and meat and distribute it to food banks and other community groups.

Beef, hog, dairy and crop producers are listed as those who are eligible to receive payments. For a commodity to qualify for support it must have seen at least a 5 per cent price drop between January and April 2020.

Egg producers, however, aren’t on the list.

Like other farmers, egg producers have had to make difficult decisions during the pandemic and need support, Ernst said.

“With restaurants and other commercial facilities closed down or limiting operations, our egg industry has seen a drastic drop in demand and as a result some have had to dump product,” she wrote in a May 5 letter to Secretary Perdue.

Egg producers have also put portions of their flock into molt, and some have culled flocks, she wrote.

Egg farmers need to be included in the CFAP to help them survive through the pandemic. And the USDA should consider purchasing liquid egg products for distribution, she added.

The USDA is working to ensure American farmers are taken care of and will re-evaluate programs as necessary.

“USDA worked to build up this program from the ground up, evaluating the impacts of COVID-19 throughout the agricultural and food sector and then reviewed the resources we had available to do the best we can with what we have,” a USDA spokesperson told Farms.com in an emailed statement. “This is intended to be an inclusive program and more information will be provided in the rulemaking. As we implement and get applications, we will continue to evaluate impacts and work with Congress as more resources are needed.”

Farms.com has reached out to egg producers for comment.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.