Congress Members Join Humane Farming Association In Urging Reform Of USDA Livestock Indemnity Program
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), along with Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D-VA), and Salud Carbajal (D-CA), sent a letter to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue III urging common sense reforms which promote the humane treatment of farm animals and the responsible use of taxpayer dollars in the Farm Service Agency's Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP).
Thousands of farm animals are provided little to no shelter and are subjected to prolonged suffering and agonizing deaths that could be prevented if proper weather precautions and disaster management plans were required by FSA's Livestock Indemnity Program. In the summer of 2017 in California's central valley, thousands of dairy cows died from heat stroke due to a lack of adequate protections from the heat such as sufficient shade, fans, and misters. In late December 2015, Winter Storm Goliath ripped through Texas and New Mexico and claimed the lives of roughly 40,000 dairy cows and calves. The majority lived on dry lots without adequate shelter. They suffocated in the snow. And in the fall of 2013, Winter Storm Atlas struck South Dakota, killing roughly 70,000 cattle.
According to documents obtained by the Humane Farming Association (HFA) under the Freedom of Information Act, from 2013 to 2017, LIP issued payments of approximately $199 million to farmers and ranchers for animal deaths due primarily to adverse weather events. The total animal deaths included a staggering 277,471 livestock and 6,686,168 poultry. Despite the large amount of taxpayer dollars and animal loss involved, LIP does not currently ask farmers applying for reimbursement for any information or documentation regarding the shelter, care, or treatment provided to animals that died due to adverse weather events.
According to the Congress Members' letter, "When no adequate protection is put in place during adverse weather events, producers are reimbursed for dead livestock at 75 percent of the animals' market value. We believe this represents a clear disincentive for farmers to take the necessary steps to have a disaster management plan and provide their animals with protections from adverse weather events. Without this compensation, we believe many producers would no doubt make an effort to provide for their animals. Instead, we believe massive numbers of neglected livestock are dying painfully and needlessly while taxpayers foot the bill."
The letter went on to say,
"We believe that producers applying for compensation under LIP should be required to provide detailed information regarding the precautionary measures that the producer took to avoid the death of livestock during adverse weather events…. We believe farmers should not be rewarded with taxpayer dollars for not providing [the] most basic levels of humane treatment. For these reasons, we respectfully request that, if LIP compensation is made available, the FSA should only provide it to those producers who not only put in place adverse weather protections for their livestock, but also document those protections."
"HFA is gratified that Congressman Hastings and his colleagues have brought this important issue to the forefront in an attempt to hold livestock producers accountable," said HFA National Director Bradley Miller. "In addition to the fact that the Livestock Indemnity Program essentially rewards producers for bad behavior, it also represents misuse of taxpayer dollars and government waste at its most flagrant."
About HFA
The Humane Farming Association (HFA) is dedicated to the protection of farm animals and operates the nation's largest farm animal sanctuary. Founded in 1985 and over 250,000 members strong, HFA is nationally recognized for its integrity and its groundbreaking anti-cruelty campaigns.
CONTACT: Gail Eisnitz
415-485-1495
[email protected]
SOURCE Humane Farming Association
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