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Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns Archive
Contact:
Bethany Shively,
The Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns (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). Please feel free to reprint in full or in part. If you would like to include NCBA's logo, contact us at 303-694-0305. | |
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NCBA's Chief Veterinarian Assumes Leadership Post at Animal Agriculture Alliance
Dr. Elizabeth Parker, Chief Veterinarian for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), was named as the chair of the Animal Agriculture Alliance (Alliance) Board of Directors yesterday.
"The Alliance's work communicating reliable information on behalf of America's farmers and ranchers is important to the cattle producers at NCBA and every other person that depends on livestock agriculture; from corn and soybean growers all the way down the chain to consumers," said Dr. Parker. "Everyone involved in the food chain must combat the misleading-and sometimes outrageous-claims of animal rights extremists. The Alliance is proactively working to explain how we ensure the well-being of the animals in our care."
Dr. Parker praised the Alliance's role as a forum for agricultural groups to develop common messages. "When anti-agriculture groups regularly exercise hyperbole to make their case, a reliable group needs to be able to correct the record," she said. "I consider the Alliance to be in an excellent position to explain the stewardship and responsibility that livestock producers exercise in caring for their animals."
Dr. Parker, who came to Washington, DC as the 1999-2000 American Veterinary Medical Association's Congressional Science Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Fellowship Program, has served on the Alliance board since 2007.
"We are excited to have Dr. Elizabeth Parker in this key role," said Alliance Executive Vice President Kay Johnson. "She is an exceptionally gifted individual with the experience to provide critical guidance that will build upon the Alliance's previous successes."
As NCBA's Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Parker focuses on issues related to animal health, animal welfare and food safety and security, especially those being debated within the government agencies and in Congress. Prior to joining NCBA, she was based in Rome, Italy as an International Consultant, Avian Influenza and Planning Operations Officer for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations where she worked on highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, is a broad-based coalition of individual producers, producer organizations, suppliers, packer-processors, private industry and retailers. The Alliance's mission is to communicate the important role of animal agriculture to our nation's economy, productivity, vitality, security and that animal well-being is central to producing safe, high-quality, affordable food and other products essential to our daily lives.
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U.S.-EU Sign Beef Trade Deal
The U.S. and European Union (EU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) yesterday finalizing the compromise reached last week in the beef hormone dispute. The MOU, which was signed in Geneva, will provide U.S. producers significant additional access, at zero duty, to the EU market for high-quality beef produced from cattle that have not been treated with growth-promoting hormones. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) has been working closely with industry and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on this issue for several years and is pleased that steps are being taken in ending this longstanding dispute. However, while this is a positive step forward, it does not resolve the dispute.
"Many Europeans have never experienced a dinner that includes the highest quality beef in the world," said Gregg Doud, NCBA chief economist. "Now it's time to remove our 'market-access hat' and get down to the business of marketing U.S. beef in Europe."
The terms of the MOU, as outlined by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), are as follows:
Phase 1: In the first phase, which will last three years, the EU will open an annual TRQ of 20,000 tons, at zero duty, for beef produced without growth-promoting hormones. The United States may maintain some of the additional import duties (compensation) currently applied to certain EU products, and will not impose the new duties (carousel) that were announced in January 2009.
Phase 2: The agreement provides for the opportunity to enter into a second phase, lasting one year, in which the EU would further expand the TRQ to 45,000 tons of duty-free access. During this phase, the United States would suspend the application of all additional import duties imposed on EU products. For the United States, a decision on whether to move to Phase 2 would depend on the existence of conditions at the end of Phase 1 that would allow the U.S. beef industry to make full use of the additional quota.
Phase 3: The agreement provides for the opportunity to enter into a third phase at the end of the fourth year. In this phase, the EU would maintain the 45,000-ton duty-free TRQ and the United States would continue not to apply any increased import duties. A decision on whether to move to Phase 3 would be made following negotiations on several issues, including duration, withdrawal, and the status of WTO litigation on the EU's compliance with the WTO ruling in the Beef Hormones dispute.
Suspension of Litigation: For at least the first 18 months of the agreement, neither party will move forward with WTO litigation on the EU's compliance with the WTO's ruling in the Beef Hormones dispute. After 18 months, either or both parties would be free to request a WTO panel. If either party makes this request, compliance litigation would commence and move forward until the panel is ready to issue its interim report (i.e., the report that reveals to the parties for the first time the panel's findings and reasoning). At that point, the parties would instruct the panel not to issue the interim report to the parties and request that the panel suspend its work until at least the end of the fourth year. The status of any such interim report, including whether it would ever be disclosed, and the status of the panel would be the subject of the consultations that occur at the end of Phase 2.
Either party may withdraw from this MOU upon six months written notice.
For background on the U.S. - EU beef hormone dispute, visit: www.beefusa.org/NEWSUS-EUTakeFirstStepinResolvingTwenty-YearBeefTradeDispute38542.aspx
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NCBA Continues to Call for Transportation Reform
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and nearly 50 national agriculture associations are urging Congress to support efficient and safe rules for agricultural production and transportation. In a letter sent today to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, the groups urged Congress to maintain the agricultural hours-of-service (ag HOS) exemption within the transportation authorization bill, and pledged their assistance in ensuring that this exemption be maintained with the highest possible regard to safety.
"The flexibility provided by this exemption is needed in the agricultural industry to 'finish the job' during busy planting and harvest season, when seasons and weather patterns do not comply with normal work schedules," states the letter. "Elimination of this exemption would not only increase agricultural operating costs and reduce transportation efficiency, but it may also create safety issues during harvest and planting seasons if producers are required to hire more temporary and possibly less-experienced drivers."
Cattle producers are committed to safety first when providing for our nation's food and fiber. The livestock industry relies on the ability to transport livestock across state lines, and non-uniform transportation laws are severely impacting the day-to-day operations of producers and haulers by causing confusion and added expenses. This is especially more burdensome during times of agricultural marketing, planting and harvesting.
As Congress continues to prepare and renew their transportation authorization language, NCBA urges them to keep the unique needs of the agriculture community in mind. In addition to the ag HOS exemption, NCBA is also urging support for current transportation legislation (H.R.1799 and H.R.1220) that would allow for increased truck weights for certain agriculture vehicles.
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CWT Announces Bids for Upcoming Dairy Herd Retirement Program
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) announced yesterday that it has tentatively accepted 388 bids representing 102,898 cows and 2 billion pounds of milk production capacity in the first of a series of dairy herd retirements planned over the next twelve months. CWT is a program designed by America's dairy farmers to reduce milk production and increase demand for dairy products in order to strengthen and stabilize prices.
"We don't expect this to have significant impacts on the beef market," said Gregg Doud, NCBA chief economist. "But now that the bids have been announced, we'll be watching the market for any signs of weakness in milk prices that might prompt dairymen to liquidate more cows on their own."
The global economic crisis has not only had a profound impact on the U.S. dairy industry, it has also affected prices for dairy products around the world and led to an increase in dairy cow cull rates in heavily trade-dependent countries like Australia and New Zealand. This dynamic, along with a strong U.S. dollar, has in part led to a significant increase in U.S. imports of beef used for hamburger (50% of beef in the U.S. is consumed as ground beef). So far this year, beef imports from Australia are up 67% and imports from New Zealand are up 9% (level of TRQ filled through May 9th).
NCBA has been in close contact with the National Milk Producers Federation and is pleased that the CWT retirement program will go forward during the expected May-July time period, which is not typically a high season for bringing beef cows to market.
The dairy retirement will amount to roughly 40-45 million pounds of beef, which if brought to market over a three-month period, would be roughly 8,000 head of cows per week. This compares to a weekly cow slaughter figure of 110,000 head last week and a 111,000 head/week average for the year to date. The announcement is consistent with private analysts' expectations of a 100,000 CWT announcement.
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PLC Applauds DOI Decision on Polar Bear Rule
The Public Lands Council (PLC) applauded U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar's decision on Friday to retain a special rule related to the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The section 4(d) special rule for polar bears was issued in December under the Bush administration.
The rule would have allowed incidental threats to polar bears--such as greenhouse gas emissions resulting from activities outside the bear's range--to be regulated under the ESA. PLC agrees with Secretary Salazar that "the Endangered Species Act is not the proper mechanism for controlling our nation's carbon emissions."
Section 4(d) of the ESA allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to tailor regulatory prohibitions for threatened species as deemed necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the species. The Secretary was given authority to withdraw and/or reissue the polar bear 4(d) rule through language that was included in the FY2009 Omnibus appropriations bill enacted in March.
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NCBA Urges President Obama to Strengthen U.S.-China Trade Relationship
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) joined with more than 30 companies and associations today in urging President Obama to take steps to strengthen U.S. economic relations with China by supporting a robust Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). The JCCT--led by the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce--is a results-driven and effective mechanism for promoting further access to the Chinese market and ensuring U.S. companies have a fair trading structure with meaningful opportunities to compete in the Chinese market.
NCBA continues to push for greater advancements in liberalizing trade with China. Efforts to open this critical market are especially important during the current economic environment where we see increasing efforts by foreign governments to adopt policies that discriminate against U.S. businesses.
China is currently closed to U.S. beef exports, and represents one of the largest potential growth markets for U.S. beef-worth in excess of $100 billion. With 1.3 billion consumers, rising income levels, and rapid urbanization, growth in China's per capita beef consumption outpaced all major beef-consuming countries during the last decade. (USITC Publication 4033, September 2008). In addition, China demonstrates a niche demand for certain beef cuts, such as offal, that are underutilized in the U.S., and can be marketed in China as premium products. China officially banned U.S. beef and offal after the discovery of a single case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. cattle herd in December 2003. Prior to the ban, the U.S. was China's leading foreign beef supplier by value and China was the 10th largest U.S. beef export market in 2003.
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Don't miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen!
Don't miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen, May 19 - 23, as we learn more about the Environmental Stewardship Awards. Plus, we'll talk to the experts from Dow AgroSciences about how proper care of the land helps cattlemen become more profitable producers.
NCBA'S Cattlemen to Cattlemen is now an hour long! The show debuts Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. and airs again Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m. (All times are Eastern). Don't forget, you can watch NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen online anytime by visiting www.CattlemenToCattlemen.org
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NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION
1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20004 | |
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