NPPC Calls for Quick Senate Approval of HEROES Act

The National Pork Producers Council is urging the U.S. Senate to approve legislation already passed by the House of Representatives to assist struggling pork producers. The National Pork Producers Council hosted a teleconference yesterday in which it called on the U.S. Senate to expeditiously adopt livestock agriculture provisions included in COVID-relief legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

NPPC President A.V. Roth says the Senate must act quickly to support U.S. pork producers who remain in crisis.

 

 

Plant capacity has improved in recent weeks thanks to the Defence Production Act invoked by President Trump on April 28th but significant plant capacity shortfalls remain and it's unclear when we will return to full processing capacity.

 

Hogs continue to back up on farms causing an unprecedented financial crisis that is taking a severe emotional toll on farmers. A lifeline has been extended through provisions included in the HEROES Act passed by the House on May 15th.

 

We are particularly thankful to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson for his leadership in pushing for these provisions. The address the range of issues that are decimating our farm sector, including compensation for euthanized livestock and additional direct payments to offset the severe market losses incurred by producers as hog values have plummeted.

 

Collectively U.S. pork producers will lose at least five billion this year. We appreciative the 1.6 billion allocated for pork producers in the USDA's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program but it falls short of what is needed to sustain thousands of impacted producers.

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.