Swine specialist Halina Zaleski of CTAHR’s Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences is spearheading the Hog Feed Relief Program to help hog farmers whose livelihoods are being disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis.
Swine producers are facing marketing changes and supply-chain interruptions due to the closure of restaurants, hotels, and farmers’ markets. They’re losing a significant seasonal revenue source, sales of whole hogs for graduation parties and other special gatherings. They’ve also lost a crucial source of feed: food waste from hotels, restaurants, and schools.
4-H youth who are raising swine for their projects are also affected. Many take out loans in order to buy and care for their hogs, hoping to make the money back at their annual 4-H shows—which have now been cancelled.
This Relief Program will offer hog producers and 4-H youth a discount of $5 a bag for a variety of pig feeds at participating dealers. The dealers will be reimbursed for the discount on a weekly basis—they just need to send their invoices to Halina, who will be coordinating the disbursements.
Funding of $20,000 for this initiative was provided by Ulupono Initiative LLC through CTAHR, HDOA, and the Hawaii Pork Industry Association. The program starts on April 20 and will run as long as funds last.
Those with questions can email or call Halina at halina@hawaii.edu or 808-956-7594.