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According to the National Pork Producers Association (NPPC), due to COVID-related plant shutdowns and slowdowns, US pork harvest capacity is down nearly 40 percent as of May 6, 2020. For the week of May 2, 2020, USDA-inspected pork processing facilities harvested 1.55 million hogs. During the same week last year, 2.36 million hogs were harvested. This year’s harvest for the week of May 2 was expected to be over 2.4 million head.
At current capacity levels, more than 170,000 market-ready hogs per day can’t be processed into the food supply. These hogs will eventually stay on farms too long and grow too large to be accepted by harvest facilities. It is estimated that up to 10,069,000 market hogs will need to be euthanized between the weeks ending on April 25 and September 19, 2020, resulting in a severe emotional and financial toll on hog farmers.
May 2, 2020/ NPPC/ United States.
http://nppc.org/
