$40 million in support- not "chicken feed"

USDA comes to aid of chicken industry with $40M purchase - chicagotribune.com: "The United States is stepping in to help bail out another American industry -- chicken farmers and meat processors.

The nation's chicken industry is having a difficult year. Chicken producers are struggling with higher costs of running their business at the same time that consumers are buying less meat.

This has created a glut of chicken products.

Total chicken production in the first half of 2011 rose 4 percent, from a year earlier, while demand for chicken has cooled, according to the National Chicken Council.

So, retail prices for chicken product have dipped.

The Department of Agriculture, keenly aware of these issues, announced Monday that it will make a special purchase of up to $40 million of chicken products, which the government will then donate to federal food assistance programs such as soup kitchens and its national Feeding America programs."