WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, North Carolina Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr and Representatives David Rouzer, Dan Bishop, Richard Hudson, and Greg Murphy, M.D. sent a letter to Congressional leaders requesting additional funding and resources to assist North Carolina pork producers facing unprecedented circumstances as a result of market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Due to COVID-19 outbreaks within the workforce, processing facilities have reduced operations or temporarily closed,” wrote the members. “These capacity reductions are having severe impacts at the other end of the supply chain, where pork producers on the farm have no outlet for their animals. Consequently, producers are forced to make unfathomable decisions to euthanize their animals.” 

“If uncompensated for these forced losses, pork producers may be put out of business, with devastating consequences for our rural, agriculture dependent communities,” the members continued. “Accordingly, we respectfully request that additional resources to assist North Carolina producers in these challenging times be prioritized in any potential forthcoming legislation.” 

“Due to supply chain bottlenecks that have backed up hogs on farms, U.S. pork producers here in North Carolina and around the country are facing the tragic need to euthanize hogs to prevent animal suffering,” said David Herring, a hog farmer from Lillington, N.C., and immediate-past president of the National Pork Producers Council. “We need federal assistance to support the U.S. pork production industry, which generates more than 500,000 jobs and $23 billion in personal income across America. We thank Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, and Reps. David Rouzer, Dan Bishop, Richard Hudson and Gregory Murphy for providing leadership to compensate hog farmers so thousands of generational family farms can weather this crisis.”

Read the letter HERE.

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