Cattle Producers Pursue Year-Round Trade with Canada

Washington, D.C. (November 8, 2002) – Cattle producers are confident that year-round access for trade with Canada will become a reality as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) continues to work through barriers which inhibit the trading of live cattle with Canada.  

The movement of live cattle to Canada has been restricted for many years due to Canadian concerns regarding diseases such as bluetongue and anaplasmosis.  NCBA has joined forces with other animal health experts to work through these barriers, and say the concerns are not based on sound science. 

“The NCBA has long been a supporter of free and fair trade as long as it results in a more open global market for U.S. cattle, beef and beef products,” says Gary Weber, NCBA executive director of regulatory affairs.  “Canada exports over 51 percent of their beef production to the United States, yet they won’t give us full and fair access to their market.  Free and fair trade with our immediate neighbors, Canada and Mexico, must be a priority.”

Weber reports that NCBA is committed to working with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Foreign Agriculture Service to eliminate the trade barriers between the U.S. and Canada.  “In recent years, the Northwest Pilot Project has demonstrated how such free trade can benefit both U.S. and Canadian cattlemen,” says Weber.

At the recent U.S. Animal Health Association conference in St. Louis, NCBA, along with other conference participants, sent a message to the APHIS urging them to place a high priority on reducing the impediments to live cattle export to Canada. 

NCBA, under the umbrella of the USAHA, was joined by state and federal animal health experts, regulatory officials, and livestock producers in passage of a resolution that calls for “cooperation with states, representatives of the cattle industry, university and Agricultural Research Service scientists, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to ensure science-based, free and fair trade between the U.S. and Canada.”

“These resolutions represent a big step forward for livestock producers,” says Gary Wilson, Ohio cattle producer and chair of NCBA’s Cattle Health and Well Being Committee.  “These initiatives are all about finding ways to open up trade markets for American cattle and beef products, while working together to ensure animal health.”

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