Mike Pearson examines the Pure Prairie Poultry situation and how it may impact agriculture business ventures in the future.

The Pure Prairies Poultry story has stirred up a lot of questions. Leaders are now looking into how the company and how the leaders qualified for over $50 million in grants and loans.

Pure Prairies Poultry filed for bankruptcy at the end of September.

Some are asking if there was proper oversight over the business and if enough was done to ensure the loans were secure.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack defends the decision to approve PPP for the loans and grants. He cites the company's early potential and the jobs created as part of the decision for awarding the loans.

Vilsack says PPP was an unusual circumstance especially when leaders can look at the $200 million in loans to other agricultural programs and see their success.

He added that regional food production became very important after COVID and PPP was supposed to fill that need after COVID.

The USDA worked in established guidelines to determine if PPP was a loan risk and it was determined not to be a high risk when the USDA figured in the need for local food production and job creation.

Vilsack said the USDA is expected to review the loan program and grants program in an attempt to avoid these types of situations in the future.

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Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness.