From the Horse’s Mouth: A Report from the Five Nations Conference
Not to necessarily defend which end of a horse I might resemble, I understand an erroneous media report from Australia has been circulating among a few in the industry here, and I thought it might be good for me to report on my trip to Australia to participate in the Five Nations Beef Conference. Hear it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
The Five Nations Beef Conference occurs every 18 months or so with industry representatives from Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. As a group, our aim is to seek the elimination of non-scientific and political trade restrictions and maintain strong demand for beef against competitive threats from pork and poultry.
So, when I say it’s not about competition, that’s because this conference had nothing to do with competition between our nations. There is no question we are competitors in the global marketplace. And in my mind, there is no question U.S. producers have a strong competitive position, producing the greatest tasting beef in volumes to satisfy the world’s consumers.
But the fact of the matter is unscientific trade barriers remain, and that’s unacceptable. NCBA is about eliminating those trade barriers so U.S. producers can compete fairly. I’m confident the quality and value of U.S. beef, along with our industry’s foreign promotion and educational efforts, will prevail once we are allowed access. And that’s why leveraging other beef producing nations who are like-minded on the topic of politically motivated, unscientific trade barriers is an important element to an overall trade strategy.
It doesn’t surprise me that some have grabbed on to a bad headline that completely misrepresented me as part of what seems like never-ending attempts to divide the industry. NCBA is about including all beef industry stakeholders to strengthen our industry today and ensure a promising future for the next generation of cattle producers.
It does disappoint me that the coverage about my direct challenges to Australia’s unfair trade barriers have been conveniently overlooked. I find it very hypocritical that while Australia industry representatives support science-based trade practices, their government fails to follow their lead and import product into their nation based on sound scientific principles. And I didn’t hesitate to tell them so, both directly to their high ranking government officials and their media.
Do you know that we do not ship one ounce of U.S. beef into Australia right now? Australia continues to ban beef from any country where BSE has been found. This from a country that exports 70 percent of their beef production, and a whole lot of that is bound for the United States. So try this headline on for a change: “North Americans Blast Australia's BSE Stance.” This is an actual headline from a story that ran in Australia, and the story began, “Australia’s position on quarantine and trade has been branded ‘hypocritical’ by visiting North American cattlemen who believe our position on BSE ignores globally accepted science.”
I’m proud of what NCBA has accomplished for its members and the continued pressure we put on our trading partners and potential partners to uphold fair, sound and reliable practices. The fact is NCBA was in large part responsible for initiating the Congressional sanctions that pressured the Japanese to re-engage with us. Japan’s beef consumption dropped 40 percent when Japan discovered their first case of BSE in September 2001. Total beef exports to Japan are still down 300,000 metric tons – which went to pork and poultry – so our challenge is to recover this market for beef.
NCBA will continue to apply pressure because the 96-plus percent of world’s consumers who live outside the United States deserve a chance to enjoy the high quality, safe beef we produce. And cattlemen deserve the opportunity to profit from expanded exports. NCBA remains committed to implementing producer directed policy and won't back down to anyone in order to get this accomplished.
Source: Mike John, cattleman from Huntsville, Missouri, and president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Not to necessarily defend which end of a horse I might resemble, I understand an erroneous media report from Australia has been circulating among a few in the industry here, and I thought it might be good for me to report on my trip to Australia to participate in the Five Nations Beef Conference. Hear it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
The Five Nations Beef Conference occurs every 18 months or so with industry representatives from Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. As a group, our aim is to seek the elimination of non-scientific and political trade restrictions and maintain strong demand for beef against competitive threats from pork and poultry.
So, when I say it’s not about competition, that’s because this conference had nothing to do with competition between our nations. There is no question we are competitors in the global marketplace. And in my mind, there is no question U.S. producers have a strong competitive position, producing the greatest tasting beef in volumes to satisfy the world’s consumers.
But the fact of the matter is unscientific trade barriers remain, and that’s unacceptable. NCBA is about eliminating those trade barriers so U.S. producers can compete fairly. I’m confident the quality and value of U.S. beef, along with our industry’s foreign promotion and educational efforts, will prevail once we are allowed access. And that’s why leveraging other beef producing nations who are like-minded on the topic of politically motivated, unscientific trade barriers is an important element to an overall trade strategy.
It doesn’t surprise me that some have grabbed on to a bad headline that completely misrepresented me as part of what seems like never-ending attempts to divide the industry. NCBA is about including all beef industry stakeholders to strengthen our industry today and ensure a promising future for the next generation of cattle producers.
It does disappoint me that the coverage about my direct challenges to Australia’s unfair trade barriers have been conveniently overlooked. I find it very hypocritical that while Australia industry representatives support science-based trade practices, their government fails to follow their lead and import product into their nation based on sound scientific principles. And I didn’t hesitate to tell them so, both directly to their high ranking government officials and their media.
Do you know that we do not ship one ounce of U.S. beef into Australia right now? Australia continues to ban beef from any country where BSE has been found. This from a country that exports 70 percent of their beef production, and a whole lot of that is bound for the United States. So try this headline on for a change: “North Americans Blast Australia's BSE Stance.” This is an actual headline from a story that ran in Australia, and the story began, “Australia’s position on quarantine and trade has been branded ‘hypocritical’ by visiting North American cattlemen who believe our position on BSE ignores globally accepted science.”
I’m proud of what NCBA has accomplished for its members and the continued pressure we put on our trading partners and potential partners to uphold fair, sound and reliable practices. The fact is NCBA was in large part responsible for initiating the Congressional sanctions that pressured the Japanese to re-engage with us. Japan’s beef consumption dropped 40 percent when Japan discovered their first case of BSE in September 2001. Total beef exports to Japan are still down 300,000 metric tons – which went to pork and poultry – so our challenge is to recover this market for beef.
NCBA will continue to apply pressure because the 96-plus percent of world’s consumers who live outside the United States deserve a chance to enjoy the high quality, safe beef we produce. And cattlemen deserve the opportunity to profit from expanded exports. NCBA remains committed to implementing producer directed policy and won't back down to anyone in order to get this accomplished.
Source: Mike John, cattleman from Huntsville, Missouri, and president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association