Iowa senators say USDA ‘dropped the ball’ on now-defunct chicken processor

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s two U-S senators are questioning why Pure Prairie Poultry, which recently declared bankruptcy, was given tens of millions of federal dollars. Senator Chuck Grassley says two years ago, the U-S-D-A handed the Minnesota-based company a near-seven-million dollar grant along with guaranteed loans of almost 39-million. “We all know it’s very important for the USDA to support the farm economy, especially in today’s tough market,” Grassley says, “but companies don’t just fail out of the blue.” When the company’s plant in Charles City closed this month, it left around 50 farmers in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota without processing capacity or feed for more than two-million chickens. Plus, another 100 Iowans lost their jobs.

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