Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to purchase up to $30 million of poultry products, providing a boost to Arkansas’s poultry industry and economy. The announcement came in response to a letter Lincoln sent to Secretary Tom Vilsack last week urging USDA to purchase 60 million pounds of poultry through its Agricultural Marketing Service. Vilsack today announced the USDA will purchase up to $30 million of chicken dark meat items for federal food nutrition assistance programs.
“I am pleased with this rapid response to my request that will provide a much-needed boost to Arkansas’s poultry industry,” Lincoln said. “Arkansas’s poultry producers are struggling due to a sluggish economy and the closure of several important foreign markets. The purchase will help Arkansas’s poultry industry get back on its feet, protect thousands of jobs and improve the state’s economy.”
The poultry industry represents one out of every six jobs in Arkansas. The purchase will provide more stability for the poultry industry in Arkansas and will provide healthy, low fat sources of protein for USDA feeding programs, which include child nutrition programs and programs that provide food to victims of natural disasters.
“We appreciate Chairman Blanche Lincoln’s leadership in working with the industry to respond to the current backlog,” National Chicken Council President George Watts said. “With the closing of several critical foreign markets to U.S. poultry, exports have declined and inventories have increased. This decision by Secretary Vilsack to honor Senator Lincoln’s request will go a long way toward getting a quality product into the hands of individuals that need it, and will assist the nation’s poultry growers, integrators, and everyone who relies on a successful poultry industry.”
