Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns
August 12, 2004
The CCC is a weekly report from Washington D.C. giving an up-to-date summary of top policy initiatives concerning the cattle industry; direct from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
NCBA Summer Conference: NCBA is hosting nearly 1,000 attendees at its 2004 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver, Colo. this week, and this edition of Cattlemen’s Capitol Concerns brings you the latest conference coverage – direct from Denver! NCBA’s Board of Directors is scheduled to meet and vote on policy Friday morning. Look for updates on adopted policy directives in next week’s CCC.
National NCBA Officers’ Forums: The biggest issue affecting cattle producers today is unity, according to NCBA President and Kansas Cattle producer Jan Lyons. The question was asked Aug. 11 at the Policy Officers’ Forum which was aired live via satellite on RFD-TV.
"We’re the only cattlemen’s association addressing all the issues which affect producer profitability, and each of the issues is significant," said Lyons. "But much of our success in Washington and around the globe relies on our ability to speak with one voice." NCBA and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board hosted two separate 45-minute forums which allowed producers from around the nation to call into a toll-free number provided on screen to ask questions of, and provide input to beef industry leaders. Sponsored by McDonald’s Corporation, the policy forum addressed questions on export market status, the upcoming elections, BSE testing, animal ID, country-of-origin labeling, nutrition issues, federal land use, conservation easements, and endangered species act reform among others.
Note: TV Re-Broadcast Scheduled! Cattle producers not able to attend the conference this week can still catch re-broadcasts of the NCBA Officers’ Forums on RFD-TV. The program will be re-broadcast three times by RFD-TV on Aug. 11-12, and it will also air at 2 p.m. MDT on Aug. 14.
ISSUES FORUMS:
This Wednesday, members of NCBA held a general opening session and five public issue forums on BSE, animal ID, nutrition, beef demand, and activists and issues management. Below is detailed news summary of these interactive sessions.
-Economic Outlook: Trade has been very good to U.S. cattle producers according to Randy Blach, executive vice president of Cattle-Fax. At Wednesday morning’s Issues Forum General Session, Blach gave conference attendees an overview on economic and marketing trends, and what the future might look like for the U.S. industry. "How much money are we leaving on the table by not having these export markets?" Blach asked referring to the closure of the Japanese, South Korean and other major markets following the December 23 BSE case. "These closures are costing us about $10 per hundred-weight…and who’s benefiting from our lack of access? Pork exports are up 30 percent." Blach says U.S. production is expected to increase over the next few years, hopefully due to the reopening of export markets and trade returning to normal conditions. Blach also pointed out that we have seen a historical growth in consumer demand. "This is a very positive trend for U.S. producers amounting to as much as $200 per head on the value of fed cattle."
-Activists Targeting Agriculture: Over the past decade, funding for anti-agriculture activist organizations who aim to threaten the livelihood of cattle producers has multiplied. Conference attendees learned from top analysts how hundreds of millions of dollars are now being funneled through foundations into activist forces. Many attendees were surprised to learn of the methods behind the madness. These well-funded activist groups are working every day to push their social, economic, and political agendas that are destructive to the cattle industry. Since the December 23 discovery of BSE in Washington state, a wide range of activist groups have been aggressively trying to influence public opinion and public policy on the BSE issue. These groups are the top source of misleading and erroneous information about our industry. NCBA members agreed that countering this movement and bringing to light the truth about this funding should be a priority in the future. For details on these groups, check out www.activistcash.com, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom. This public site gives an in-depth analysis and uncovers financial information on these anti-consumer activist groups.
-Animal Identification: The Issues Forum on animal ID was moderated by Allen Bright, Nebraska producer and chair of NCBA’s Animal ID Commission. Bright gave attendees an update on efforts to develop a nationwide animal ID program. While the USDA is pursuing development of their National Animal Identification System (NAIS), NCBA’s animal ID commission is working on a plan coordinated by the private sector. "We continue to insist that confidentiality of producer information be protected and that costs to producers must be minimal," said Bright. "The best way to accomplish these goals is through a private sector system."
In related news, the next USDA listening session on Animal ID will be held this week in Billings, Montana on Aug. 13. The USDA continues to host public forums to discuss the development, structure and implementation of a national animal ID program. Future sessions scheduled include: Kissimmee, Fla. - Aug. 16; Columbus, Ohio - Aug. 18; Ames, Iowa - Aug. 26; Joplin, Mo. - Aug. 27; Appleton, Wis. - Aug. 30; St. Cloud, Minn. - Aug. 31. Producers are encouraged to attend. Details about each session, including the site and time of meeting, will be posted at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/nais/nais_listeningsessions.html.
-BSE: The Issues Forum on BSE featured presentations by an impressive list of highly credentialed speakers and covered an array of BSE-related issues such as USDA’s enhanced BSE Surveillance Program, FDA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking governing animal feed, financial impacts of feed rule changes on the industry and consumer attitudes about BSE. Dr. John Clifford, Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) updated attendees on the status of USDA’s enhanced BSE surveillance program. Since June 1, 32,698 tests have been conducted with no positives reported. APHIS posts the test results on their website at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov.
-Nutrition Policy: Nutrition policy issues are a hot topic in Washington D.C. this summer, and NCBA members discussed this publicly during Wednesday’s issues forum on nutrition. This year brings a historic convergence of nutrition policy issues, as changes to the Dietary Guidelines, Food Guide Pyramid, nutrition labeling, and obesity issues are headline news. NBCA continues to assure beef’s role as a healthful, nutrient-rich part of the American diet. While members were addressing this issue in Denver, NBCA staff members were in Washington, D.C. attending the final meeting of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. NCBA has sent a variety of comments on nutrition policy issues this year, and submitted additional comments earlier this month to the Advisory Committee as they work to finalize their report. NCBA’s comments focus on a gap in the Advisory Committee’s recommendations by not dealing with deficiencies in iron and zinc. NCBA is urging the inclusion of advice to eat "lean meat and protein sources" to address the iron and zinc deficiencies.
*Feature* Export Markets Update: The USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Dr. J.B. Penn, was a keynote speaker at NCBA’s Joint International Markets Committee meeting today. Dr. Penn provided an in-depth overview of where things stand with our export markets, and cattle producers had the opportunity to ask pressing questions about border closures and trade concerns.
NCBA has been actively working with all branches and agencies of the U.S. government seeking points of leverage on trade negotiations. NCBA’s strong belief is that many of these countries and their health officials now have a solid understanding of the complexities of the BSE situation as well as the measurers the U.S. government and industry have put in place. Although we are nearing the end of the technical discussion phase of this process, it is now clear that in several instances that it will take more than technical discussions to get these markets open. Many barriers are becoming political issues, and a variety of diplomatic approaches are being considered in order to expedite this process.
-Japan: A final policy meeting between Dr. Penn and his Japanese counterparts should occur sometime within the next month. The goal of this meeting will be to reach an agreement that would facilitate a resumption of U.S. beef exports to Japan. Feedback from the third and final meeting of the technical "Working Group" indicated that if Japan wants to re-establish trade, they have everything they need to do so. Industry officials, including NCBA, are aggressively working together with USDA on preparations for Dr. Penn’s policy meeting.
-South Korea: NCBA believes that all indications from South Korean government officials are that they will wait to see the results of the U.S-Japan negotiations before making any final decisions.
-Hong Kong: We are probably closer to resuming trade with Hong Kong than any other major beef export market at this moment. A flurry of negotiations regarding contract and government certification language has been occurring for several days and we may be getting close to a significant breakthrough. We also believe these discussions are being monitored very closely by other beef importing nations.
-Taiwan: The U.S. Meat Export Federation has indicated that technical discussions with Taiwan are basically complete yet Taiwan has not yet made a decision to reopen its market for U.S. beef. NCBA is actively coordinating an effort to put additional pressure on Taiwan.
Penn Announces RMA Awards: In his remarks before NCBA’s Ag Policy Committee today, USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Dr. J.B. Penn announced that the Risk Management Agency (RMA) has awarded four contracts to develop new risk management tools for pasture, rangeland and forage. "We recognize that farmers and ranchers have been encouraging the development of a forage and rangeland insurance initiative and we are pleased to announce this very important initial step," said Penn. Once these contract proposals are completed the developers will provide their product to the RMA for review. Upon completion of its review, RMA will submit the products to the FCIC Board of Directors for its consideration of expert review and final approval by the Board. The final approved products are planned for either 2006 or 2007 crop year implementation. More information is available on the RMA web site: http://www.rma.usda.gov
The four national RMA contracts are for the following:
- New Plan for Pasture/Rangeland and Dryland Hay awarded to Watts and Associates based in Montana. This proposal will seek to develop a viable risk management tool by employing a dual index consisting of a satellite based vegetative index and a proxy crop.
- Temperature Constrained NDVI Index, awarded to Grazingland Management Systems, Inc. located in Texas. NDVI stands for Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and utilizes data derived from satellite-based remote sensing imagery that will describe the seasonal growth dynamics of vegetation for target areas.
- Seasonal Growth Constrained Rainfall Index, awarded to Grazingland Management Systems, Inc. The Seasonal Growth Constrained Rainfall Index is based on a combination of a weighted warm-season/cool-season indexing period and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rainfall data system.
- Precipitation Index, awarded to AgriLogic, Inc. based in Texas and Kansas. This proposal will utilize a rainfall index, based on a weighted average amount of precipitation during a particular time period at a particular weather station.
NCBA Policy Meetings: NCBA members are involved in extensive policy committee meetings this week in Denver. From NCBA’s Agriculture Policy Committee, NCBA Federal Lands Committee, to NCBA’s Emerging Cattle Health Issues Working Group, hundreds of producers are actively addressing specific policy issues affecting the cattle industry. The meetings offer public discussion, the latest updates from Washington D.C., and a platform