Robert Pore's Ag Blog

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is seeking assistance from President George Bush in resolving an increasingly difficult situation regarding the resumption of U.S. beef exports to South Korea.

In a letter sent Friday to Bush from the NCBA, the cattlemen's organization president, Mike John of Missouri, said U.S. cattle producers have been "extremely patient for almost three years now, but South Korea continues to find baseless excuses to block U.S. beef from access to their market."

John said the protectionist actions are extremely destructive, especially in light of talks regarding a U.S. - South Korea Free Trade Agreement.

"We cannot support trade agreements with nations who concoct their own trade rules and ignore internationally recognized trade standards," he said. "After their continued, unscientific ban on our products we hoped to see a light at the end of the tunnel earlier this year with their promise to accept our boneless beef."

John said South Korea simply refuses to play by the rules.

"Their partial re-opening has been an uphill battle since the beginning of the year and the recent shipment rejections due to miniscule bone fragments is simply the last straw," he said.

"U.S. cattle producers urge the Administration to take all possible actions to bring about a resolution to this conflict with South Korea," the letter read. "If a desirable resolution is impossible, we urge you to consider alternative actions to be taken from that point forward."

While South Korea finally agreed to re-open its borders to boneless beef in January 2006, U.S. beef producers have seen nothing but protracted stalling since then.

John said Korean inspectors were "extremely sluggish" in getting to the U.S. plants; the Korean media continues to make contemptible claims about the safety of our beef;
they delayed for nearly a month on deciding the definition of a bone chip; and to top it off, took weeks to actually inspect recent shipments of beef, only to ultimately reject them.

"South Korea’s continued embargo on U.S. beef proves their roots in protectionism show little sign of dissolving," he said.

Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA President and Region V Director Chuck Kiker today said he was pleased to learn the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has backed away from the agency’s original plan to make electronic animal identification a mandatory program.

“We appreciate the efforts of Under Secretary Bruce Knight in particular, because he sat down with us face-to-face on more than one occasion so we could explain to him the concerns our members have about mandatory animal identification, especially since some of the driving forces behind the program were focusing on it being used as a marketing tool instead of its original intended purpose – an animal-health tool for tracking foreign animal diseases (FADs),” Kiker said.

Last week, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Bruce Knight made the announcement the program would remain voluntary when the agency rolled out its new 60-plus page Draft User Guide for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

“Animal identification is one of the hottest topics to come up for discussion at the may meetings R-CALF has held around the countryside the past couple of years, and we’re hopeful that USDA will continue listening to the numerous concerns expressed by independent cattle producers,” Kiker continued. “Right now, the folks that want to utilize Animal ID in their operations will have that option, and folks who don’t want anything at all to do with an Animal ID program can exercise that option as well.

“USDA needs to rebuild cattle producers’ confidence in that agency – including APHIS – by working with producers, and this is a step in the right direction,” he noted.

“We still need to resolve problems the animal health officials are having in tracking animals and eradicating existing diseases in the United States,” Kiker explained. “R-CALF USA’s Animal ID Committee, headed by veterinarian Richard Bowman, continues to work with USDA and producers to find ways to incorporate existing ID systems into the NAIS.

“We also want to make sure that state animal health officials are in control of the system in their given state,” he said. “R-CALF’s No.1 priority on Animal ID was to keep it voluntary. That was the most reiterated comment we heard in the countryside.

“Several R-CALF leaders have worked for many months with various USDA officials to prevent implementation of a mandatory animal identification system, and USDA’s recent decision shows that this organization has made progress,” Kiker concluded. “We want USDA to know we appreciate their attention to our concerns and we appreciate that those officials listened to, and took to heart, what livestock producers around the U.S. had to say on this important matter.”

“Members of R-CALF will continue to remain engaged in dialogue with USDA, as well as state and local animal health officials, to try to improve an animal tracking system that will meet the needs for animal disease traceback, and keep in mind the acceptability and the costs to individual animal producers,” Bowman added.