Over at the Animals and Society Institute Diary I blogged about the world’s faltering economy and its impact on animals. Here’s some relevant titbits.
The long economic boom, fueled by easy credit that allowed people to spend money they did not have, led to a huge oversupply of cars, houses and shopping malls, as recent months have made clear. Now, add one more item to the list: an oversupply of cows. And it turns out that shutting down the milk supply is not as easy as closing an automobile assembly line.
As a breakneck expansion in the global dairy industry turns to bust, Roger Van Groningen must deal with the consequences. In a warehouse that his company runs here, 8 to 20 trucks pull up every day to unload milk powder. Bags of the stuff — surplus that nobody will buy, at least not at a price the dairy industry regards as acceptable — are unloaded and stacked into towering rows that nearly fill the warehouse.
Mr. Van Groningen’s company does not own the surplus milk powder, but merely stores it for the new owners: the taxpayers of the United States. To date, the government has agreed to buy about $91 million worth of milk powder.
As Recession Deepens, So Does Milk Surplus
The United States Agriculture Department said on Tuesday it bought about 60.451 million pounds of chicken products for about $42.2 million for school lunch and other nutrition assistance programs. The purchase program was announced last month to help the chicken industry, which has been hit hard by high feed and fuel costs amid slowing demand from cost-conscious consumers. Close to 30 million pounds of chicken — almost half the total — was bought from Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, the USDA said. Pilgrim’s Pride, the top U.S. chicken producer, filed for voluntary bankruptcy earlier this month because of the difficult economic conditions. The USDA also bought 16.787 million pounds from Tyson Foods Inc, the No. 2 producer. Nine of 13 companies that submitted proposals to the program were successful, the USDA said.
