The state of Iowa has launched a new program to assist pork producers with the backlog of pigs that continue to add up due to the COVID-19 related disruption in the food supply chain. The latest estimate is that 600,000 hogs are clogging up farms that would otherwise have been processed under normal circumstances.. Iowa producers were faced with killing thousands of chickens and turkeys during the bird flu outbreak five years ago — and Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says they learned some things then.

Each applicant who is approved will receive funding for at least one-thousand animals and up to 30-thousand each round, depending on the number of applicants. The money comes from federal coronavirus relief funding.