The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is working to help the states farmers and ranchers get through the impacts of the pandemic. State Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says they recently began a disposal program to help pork producers who have had and will have to euthanize animals due to the inability to get them processed in a timely basis.

He says they will have three rounds of payments for those needing disposal funding assistance.

Naig says every farmer and rancher has been negatively affected by the COVID 19 pandemic so they’ve been doing what they can at the Agriculture Department to help those producers.

Naig says the coronavirus has caused unprecedented, ongoing disruptions to the food supply chain. And he’s hopeful this disposal funding aid will give hope to pork producers facing tough decisions with their animals.