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Hog farmer says government assistance is still needed

After a record year of direct government payments to farmers, some outside of the agriculture industry wonder if trade and COVID aid are still needed. Pennsylvania hog farmer Chris Hoffman says the answer is yes.

“Unless something changes in a drastic way, I really believe it will probably be needed as we roll into the first and second quarter of next year.”

Hoffman says the hog market has not recovered from processing plant slowdowns, so they are not able to get exports out like they need to. On top of that, he says one big market- the food service industry- is still crippled.

“It’s really tough out here on the farm level. We are here, we are producing animals, we are producing products and if we can’t animals processed and delivered or we have to dump milk, it is going to be really hard to stay in business without some help.”

Hoffman spoke during a Farmers for Free Trade webinar releasing ag policy recommendations for the Biden Administration earlier this month.