Grassley, Ernst demand answers from USDA on oversight of Pure Prairie Poultry grants, loans

CHARLES CITY — Iowa’s US Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are demanding answers from the US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack regarding the distribution and oversight of grants and loans following the recent bankruptcy filing of Pure Prairie Poultry and the shutdown of their chicken processing plant in Charles City.

The Minnesota-based poultry processor received more than $45 million in USDA grants and loans intended to help meat and poultry processors start or expand processing capacity, but Pure Prairie filed for bankruptcy after only a few years of operation, leaving over 100 employees jobless, impacting up to 50 farmers and left more than two million chickens in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin without feed.

Grassley says with the abrupt closure of the plant, he’s questioning the vetting and oversight by the USDA regarding those grants. “This raises two or three questions. When did the USDA learn of Pure Prairie how long it was struggling? Does the USDA have a process for vetting companies before it gives away taxpayer dollars? And are there other companies in similar financial situations right now and is the USDA on top of it?”

Grassley, Ernst, and north-central Iowa congresswoman Ashley Hinson have joined both the House and Senate Agriculture Committee chairs as Minnesota congressman Brad Finstad in sending a letter to Vilsack seeking answers to questions on the Pure Prairie situation.  “Taxpayers have a right to know how the government is spending their money. In the meantime, I’ll continue to assist workers and farmers however I can. I think that there’s not a whole lot along that line that can be done, but whatever we can do we’re going to do.”

Grassley says they want to know if this is a standalone situation or if other processors are potentially in trouble.  “We don’t know whether this is a single situation in Charles City and Minnesota and Wisconsin with the farmers or if it’s a problem in other companies where they’ve gotten some help from the same program that Charles City got help.”

Iowa ag officials announced over the weekend that after taking over the care and feeding for about 1.3 million chickens that many had to be euthanized as they were not able to find another buyer.