Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have led other members of Congress in writing a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking a series of questions about USDA’s loans and Grants to Pure Prairie Poultry, a Minnesota company that has filed for bankruptcy.

“USDA has provided millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded loans and grants to meat and poultry processors across the country, which is why my colleagues and I are calling on USDA to provide answers,” Finstad said in a news release. “While expanding livestock markets and processing capacity is critical for farm country, the lack of oversight of these dollars by USDA harmed producers and caused a significant disruption to our nation’s food supply chain.”

“USDA is responsible for keeping tabs on the taxpayer-funded grants it administers, but it clearly dropped the ball with Pure Prairie. Iowans and others across America’s Heartland have lost their jobs and their poultry market as a result of Pure Prairie’s closure. USDA must explain to Congress and the public what went wrong to help prevent a repeat scenario,” said Grassley.

A USDA spokesperson said in an email, “Over the course of this administration, USDA has been working furiously to rebuild and create new markets for farmers, after many important ones were decimated by trade wars and the COVID-19 pandemic. To this point, millions of dollars of investments in these lawmakers’ states are providing critically important new options for farmers, strengthening local and regional food supply chains, expanding independent processing capacity, lowering input costs, and more, actions which many of these signers have championed. At the same time, given its importance as a processing option for Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin farmers, USDA is working to help the facility reopen. Rather than trying to score political points, those members of Congress should work with USDA to reopen the facility and pass a new farm bill, which is now two years late.”