'Meat the Need' aims to beef up ailing agriculture industry

The agriculture industry has a plan to help the needy.

But right now there isn't the money. And if it's implemented, over the long run, consumer prices may increase.

The proposal is called Meat the Need, and on Thursday, the Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food joined other members of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, which crafted the proposal, in calling for some $900 million in stimulus funds to make it happen.

Under the proposal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would buy $900 million worth of turkey, dairy and pork products and distribute the food to food pantries and the school lunch program, which provides free and reduced-price lunches at public schools to qualifying children, according to a letter NASDA has prepared for Congress.

Once millions of pounds of food products are out of the market, there will be a new demand for food, which farmers will be able to supply at higher prices. At a news conference Thursday morning, Leonard Blackham, the state's agriculture commissioner, said higher prices probably will trickle down to the consumer.

"They probably will be more expensive," he said. "We think if the alternative is bankruptcies to occur, it would be even more expensive."

A gallon of milk that costs about $1.90 could shoot up to $2.09, he said. But with widespread dairy bankruptcies, it would go to $3 or $4 a gallon.

Specifically, the plan calls for the USDA to buy 75 million pounds of excess cold storage inventories of cheese in three stages over 120 days or until certain costs of production are met, since dairy farmers are losing about $100 to $200 per cow per month, said Ron Stratford, a dairy farmer in West Haven and vice president of the Dairy Producers of Utah.

The plan also calls for the USDA to buy about 300 million pounds of pork over 180 days or until certain production costs are realized. Fewer people are purchasing pork, scared of catching the H1N1 virus, which originally was called "swine flu." People don't get H1N1 from eating pork, said Haven Hendricks, executive director of the Utah Pork Producers. Farmers have lost $20 a head over the last two years.

The USDA would also make a one-time purchase of 100 million pounds of turkey products, according to the plan.

Farmers are struggling to make profits because of high feed costs. Last year, grain prices skyrocketed. For example, corn, which traded at $2.50 a bushel last summer, hit $5.50 a bushel and now is $3.30. Soybean meal used to cost $280 a ton. Last summer it was $450 a ton, and now it is $380, Hendricks said.