Packers program to help Meadowbrook farmers get paid

RANTOUL – Helping farmers recoup payments for livestock provided to a processing plant isn't new to Jay Johnson.

Johnson, regional director of the USDA's Packers and Stockyards program, helped cattle farmers receive more than $2 million in overdue payments for livestock they sold to the Agriprocessors meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, after it filed for bankruptcy and closed last fall following a federal raid on the plant.

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