Iowa Sen. Grassley, Others Question USDA Grant Oversight Amid Pure Prairie Poultry Closure

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (R) and Minnesota Representative Brad Finstad (R) are leading a letter scrutinizing the USDA’s loan and grant oversight practices after a recent awardee, Pure Prairie Poultry, shut down. 

Grassley and Finstad serve on the Senate and House Agriculture Committees, respectively. Grassley said in a statement, “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.”

 Finstad added, “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. 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.”

Minnesota-based Pure Prairie Poultry received over $45 million in USDA funding to help restart and expand capacity of the chicken processing plant in Charles City in November 2022. However, less than two years later, PPP ceased operations earlier this month. As a result, up to 50 farmers in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin were left without processing capacity or feed for over two million chickens, with some 1.3 million broiler chickens being euthanized in Iowa. Roughly 140 people lost their jobs.

 Grassley and Finstad are asking USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack about the agency’s considerations for approving Pure Prairie Poultry’s funding, its insights into the company’s financial standing and the steps it took to assist stakeholders following the Charles City plant closure.

 Additional signatories include Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), along with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.).

**You can read the complete Grassley/Finstad letter here