The National Pork Producers Council is urging the Senate to approve legislation reauthorizing the livestock mandatory price reporting law after today’s markup by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee. The law expires Sept. 30. The statute requires meat packers to report to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the prices they pay for cattle, swine and lambs and other information. … Read More
Missouri Legislators Talk COOL
While policy makers attended the Missouri State Fair’s legislator day I spoke with a few of them about issues that have a huge impact on agriculture across the country like Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), which has yet to be addressed by Senate. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt believes we must avoid retaliation from Mexico and Canada. “The likely result of … Read More
Federal Agency Neglect Leads to Wildfires
There are as many as 19,000 personnel fighting wildfires in 13 states, according to the Agriculture and Interior Departments. 300,000 acres of rangeland have burned in the Idaho and eastern Oregon in the Soda Fire alone. Those in D.C. are calling for funds to fight the growing fires and the Public Lands Council and National Catlemen’s Beef Association sent a … Read More
NPPC Says Withdraw Trade Benefits for South Africa
The National Pork Producers Council submitted comments asking the Obama administration to withdraw or limit preferential trade benefits for South Africa because of that country’s reluctance to provide market access to U.S. pork. “South Africa has shown that it is pleased to take advantage of U.S. preferential trade programs but is unwilling to extend even customary equitable treatment to imports … Read More
Dairy Holds Up TPP Talks
After a week of meetings on the Trans Pacific Partnership, trade ministers from a dozen nations left Hawaii last weekend with issues still unresolved but USTR Michael Froman says they remain optimistic. “We have made significant progress and will continue work on resolving a limited number of remaining issues,” said Froman, reading a joint statement from the ministers at the … Read More
IDFA Praises Call for Canadian Dairy Expansion
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) is praising the call of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) for Canada to finally engage on dairy market-access negotiations. The request comes during high-level talks on TTP. The letter urges Canadian Ambassador to the United States Gary Albert Doer to engage and commit to ‘significant and commercially meaningful … Read More
US Cattle Inventory Grows by 2%, 1st Growth in Decade
New numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show the U.S. cattle inventory is up 2 percent from a year earlier, the first growth in inventory since 2006. This news release from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) says there are 98.4 million head of cattle on U.S. farms. Other key findings in the report were: The 2015 calf … Read More
Industry Reacts to Senate Proposals for COOL Fix
Leadership in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry have conflicting views on a solution to Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), but the industry mostly supports repeal. The COOL Reform Coalition put out a statement applauding Sen. Roberts (R-KS) amendment recommendations that would “prevent costly retaliatory tariffs by Mexico and Canada by repealing U.S. COOL requirements for muscle cuts … Read More
Senate Has Competing Approaches to COOL Fix
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee are at odds on how to fix Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) which has been found in violation of world trade rules. Chairman Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) filed an amendment Thursday to the highway bill that would repeal mandatory COOL for beef, pork and chicken in an effort to prevent … Read More
Iowa Bird Flu Sites Depopulated, Clean-Up Underway
State and federal officials in Iowa say all sites hit by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Iowa have been depopulated and clean-up is well underway. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and U.S. Department of Agriculture said depopulation has been completed at all 77 premises, with 34 million birds affected. According to USDA, disposal has been completed … Read More