Ernst Demands Answers on USDA Oversight Following Pure Prairie Poultry’s Abrupt Closure

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in demanding answers from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack regarding distribution and oversight of grants and loans following the recent bankruptcy filing of Pure Prairie Poultry.

The Minnesota-based poultry processor received more than $45 million in USDA grants and loans intended to help meat and poultry processors start or expand processing capacity. However, Pure Prairie Poultry filed for bankruptcy after only a few short years of operation, which impacted up to 50 farmers and left more than 2 million chickens in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin without feed or the necessary processing capacity following the shutdown of their Charles City, Iowa plant. 

“Pure Prairie Poultry’s abrupt closure shows the importance of proper vetting and oversight at USDA to ensure the agency’s multi-million dollar grants and loans are actually helping producers, rather than being flushed down the drain and harming entire rural communities in the process,” said Senator Ernst. “Encouraging the growth of meat processing and strengthening our supply chain is a cause I can support, but this lack of accountable spending hurts our farmers, livestock, and taxpayers.”

“Over the past two years, USDA has provided $223 million in loan guarantees and grants to 30 meat and poultry processing companies,” the lawmakers wrote. “A press release from the USDA celebrated this funding as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ‘commitment to strengthen critical food supply chain infrastructure to create more thriving communities for the American people.’ Unfortunately, this investment has instead resulted in the loss of income, jobs, and poultry across three states.”

“While we share USDA’s desired goals of expanding meat processing capacity and markets and building a robust national food supply chain, it is critical that livestock producers have resilient systems to ensure the production of healthy and affordable protein for both domestic and global consumption. Moreover, American taxpayers deserve the peace of mind that their dollars are being spent wisely,” the lawmakers concluded.

Click here to read the full letter.

###