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The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Inspection Service is creating a National Incident Coordination Center to help producers who cannot take animals to market as meat processing facilities close due to COVID-19.

Thirteen members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union who work in meatpacking or food processing have died after contracting COVID-19, UFCW said on a media call today to press for personal protective equipment and testing.

Participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are now getting emergency benefit increases totaling $2 billion a month nationwide that Congress authorized to address the unemployment surge and economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 crisis. 

USDA’s $19 billion COVID-19 aid package for farmers may fall well short of compensating producers for the estimated damage of the pandemic, and the department has an ambitious and novel plan to distribute USDA-purchased commodities to needy people. 

The novel coronavirus is living up to its name, ushering in a new way of life for America’s food companies, most notably the meat industry.

Pork producers across the country are struggling to find a place to take weaned piglets from finishing hogs as processing plants slow or shut down because employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

Expectations for U.S. beef exports to China this year are being tempered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but shipments have already begun and they’re expected to continue strong despite the spread of the virus.

As Americans were first being told to practice social distancing and shelter-in-place last month, many farmers were trying to figure out how to reach consumers who used to come to their farms.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. has agreed to pay $25 million to settle criminal charges stemming from foodborne illness outbreaks at restaurants in four states that sickened 1,100 people.

Friday’s announcement of $19 billion in coronavirus-related direct payments and commodity purchases was welcome news in farm country, which is reporting a growing level of stress about the pandemic.