According to the Mankato Free Press, Schafer’s decision came two weeks after Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar sent him a letter telling him that 250 hog farmers had recently held a meeting in Mankato to “ address this crisis” in their industry and air concerns among some “that their operations would not survive the year.”

Klobuchar specifically noted the ag secretary’s power, under a law passed during the Great Depression, to purchase surplus commodities to support farm prices. The first-term Democrat said Schafer responded with a phone conversation on Wednesday saying he’d heard similar sentiments from farmers.

“Sometimes, you get things done,” Klobuchar said in an interview yesterday. Minnesota's pork producers were said to be very pleased with the outcome.