More corporate crapitalism. Smells lke extraction. Dylan Raitgan 'mad as hell' - anyone?
This is the 3rd bailout for chicken producers in the past 4 years. No worries, eh. We can afford it. It's not like we borrow 43 cents of every federal dollar anymore. Just 42 cents.
God forbid any industry be expected to make it on its own merits.
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Chicago Tribune
The United States is stepping in to help bail out another American industry - chicken farmers and meat processors. The nation's chicken industry is having a difficult year. Chicken producers are struggling with higher costs of running their business at the same time that consumers are buying less meat.
This has created a glut of chicken products.
Total chicken production in the first half of 2011 rose 4 percent, from a year earlier, while demand for chicken has cooled, according to the National Chicken Council.
So, retail prices for chicken product have dipped.
The Department of Agriculture, keenly aware of these issues, announced Monday that it will make a special purchase of up to $40 million of chicken products, which the government will then donate to federal food assistance programs such as soup kitchens and its national Feeding America programs.
The government made a similar move with a $30 million purchases of chicken products last year and a $42 million purchase of chicken products on 2008 with the intention of stabilizing retail prices.