Vilsack: No Government Program To Help U-S Hog Farmers

U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says PED has already killed at least 5 million piglets in that country.

He says that number continues to climb.

But Vilsack says the government doesn’t really have any programs that could compensate U-S pork producers for their losses.

He says the one program that comes closest to covering situations like PED is the so-called ELAP program – the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm Raised Fish program.

But Vilsack says that program’s budget is only 20 million dollars – about a tenth of what he thinks would be required to properly compensate American hog farmers for PED losses.