A
Anonymous
Guest
April 5, 2005
Editorial by R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
Why So Many Independent Businesses are Taking a Stand Against
the Powerful Meatpackers and the United States Department of Agriculture
Among the United States' most geographically dispersed small businesses are the 774,630 independent businesses that raise beef cattle. These independent businesses comprise the U.S. cattle industry, which is by far the largest beef producer in the world. These independent businesses contribute nearly $40 billion annually to the U.S. economy. As such, they are critically important to the financial well being of the U.S. economy, and Rural America in particular.
These independent cattle-raising businesses are the foundation for the nation's $175 billion beef industry. They operate in a global market, facing fierce competition from other beef-producing countries of the world. Foreign competitors are aggressively working to capture a greater share of the world's largest beef-consuming market – the U.S. market – which consumes 27 billion pounds of beef annually, or nearly 150 percent more than is consumed by the second largest beef consuming nation.
No cattle industry in the world has more at stake than the U.S. cattle industry in protecting the health and safety of U.S. consumers and the U.S. cattle herd. Neither the Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinean, New Zealand, Australian, Central American, Uruguayan, nor Canadian cattle industries are as concerned as the U.S. cattle industry for maintaining the highest level of consumer confidence in the U.S. beef supply. These foreign competitors exported approximately 5 billion pounds of beef and beef equivalent to the United States in 2002 (representing about 19 percent of the U.S. beef-consuming market).
The U.S. cattle industry has maintained its larger market share because it has a distinct advantage. It is not the low-cost producer; it does not have the largest cattle herd (ranking 4th in herd size); and it is not the largest exporter (ranked 9th in the world in 2004). The competitive advantage held by the U.S. cattle industry in the world's largest market is that it produces cattle in the United States, which happens to be the world's leader in promoting livestock health and protecting consumer food-safety. The U.S. cattle industry's competitive advantage is that it holds itself to the highest health and safety standards.
The U.S. cattle industry is fighting to keep this competitive advantage against efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a handful of multi-national meatpackers that want to level the playing field by lowering U.S. standards to a lowest common denominator.
The USDA already blocked the domestic cattle industry from providing consumers a country-of-origin label on beef products so they could choose to purchase U.S.A. beef. As a result, consumer confidence in U.S. beef remains tied to consumer perceptions about the health of foreign cattle and safety of foreign beef. After all, without labels, consumers cannot distinguish U.S.A. beef from imported beef.
In May 2003, a long-standing U.S. import standard required the U.S. to ban imports of beef and cattle from Canada, after it became the 23rd country in the world to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in its native cattle herd.
Despite multiple detections of BSE in Canadian cattle, the political influence from a handful of multi-national meatpackers soon outweighed USDA's resolve to protect the U.S. against the introduction of BSE.
In April 2004, the trade association representing the U.S. cattle industry - R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) – caught USDA in the act of allowing these multi-national packers to import Canadian beef products prohibited under U.S. law. R-CALF USA filed a lawsuit that protected the U.S. cattle herd and U.S. consumers from this unlawful action through December 2004.
In January 2005, under continued pressure from the multi-national meatpackers to relax U.S. import standards -- so said packers could access cheaper cattle from a country known to have BSE – USDA issued a faulty rule to relax U.S. import standards without properly assessing the risk that action would have on either human health or animal health. For the first time in history, USDA tried to set its health and safety standards well below the internationally recommended standards, and well below the standards practiced by every country in the world affected by BSE.
In response to USDA's rule to systematically reduce the United States' science-based health and safety standards simply to allow Canada to comply with U.S. law, R-CALF USA took a stand. On behalf of the 774,630 independent businesses that comprise the U.S. cattle industry, R-CALF USA challenged USDA's attempt to satisfy the financial self-interests of a handful of multi-national meatpackers, at the expense of the critically important U.S. cattle industry and the cattle industry's most valued customer – the U.S. consumer.
These independent businesses are taking this stand because they understand their commitment to U.S. consumers to provide only the safest beef, produced under the safest of conditions.
# # #
R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on domestic and international trade and marketing issues. R-CALF USA, a national, non-profit organization, is dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA's membership consists primarily of cow-calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and feedlot owners. Its members – over 14,000 strong – are located in 46 states, and the organization has over 60 local and state association affiliates, from both cattle and farm organizations. Various main street businesses are associate members of R-CALF USA. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.
Editorial by R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
Why So Many Independent Businesses are Taking a Stand Against
the Powerful Meatpackers and the United States Department of Agriculture
Among the United States' most geographically dispersed small businesses are the 774,630 independent businesses that raise beef cattle. These independent businesses comprise the U.S. cattle industry, which is by far the largest beef producer in the world. These independent businesses contribute nearly $40 billion annually to the U.S. economy. As such, they are critically important to the financial well being of the U.S. economy, and Rural America in particular.
These independent cattle-raising businesses are the foundation for the nation's $175 billion beef industry. They operate in a global market, facing fierce competition from other beef-producing countries of the world. Foreign competitors are aggressively working to capture a greater share of the world's largest beef-consuming market – the U.S. market – which consumes 27 billion pounds of beef annually, or nearly 150 percent more than is consumed by the second largest beef consuming nation.
No cattle industry in the world has more at stake than the U.S. cattle industry in protecting the health and safety of U.S. consumers and the U.S. cattle herd. Neither the Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinean, New Zealand, Australian, Central American, Uruguayan, nor Canadian cattle industries are as concerned as the U.S. cattle industry for maintaining the highest level of consumer confidence in the U.S. beef supply. These foreign competitors exported approximately 5 billion pounds of beef and beef equivalent to the United States in 2002 (representing about 19 percent of the U.S. beef-consuming market).
The U.S. cattle industry has maintained its larger market share because it has a distinct advantage. It is not the low-cost producer; it does not have the largest cattle herd (ranking 4th in herd size); and it is not the largest exporter (ranked 9th in the world in 2004). The competitive advantage held by the U.S. cattle industry in the world's largest market is that it produces cattle in the United States, which happens to be the world's leader in promoting livestock health and protecting consumer food-safety. The U.S. cattle industry's competitive advantage is that it holds itself to the highest health and safety standards.
The U.S. cattle industry is fighting to keep this competitive advantage against efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a handful of multi-national meatpackers that want to level the playing field by lowering U.S. standards to a lowest common denominator.
The USDA already blocked the domestic cattle industry from providing consumers a country-of-origin label on beef products so they could choose to purchase U.S.A. beef. As a result, consumer confidence in U.S. beef remains tied to consumer perceptions about the health of foreign cattle and safety of foreign beef. After all, without labels, consumers cannot distinguish U.S.A. beef from imported beef.
In May 2003, a long-standing U.S. import standard required the U.S. to ban imports of beef and cattle from Canada, after it became the 23rd country in the world to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in its native cattle herd.
Despite multiple detections of BSE in Canadian cattle, the political influence from a handful of multi-national meatpackers soon outweighed USDA's resolve to protect the U.S. against the introduction of BSE.
In April 2004, the trade association representing the U.S. cattle industry - R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) – caught USDA in the act of allowing these multi-national packers to import Canadian beef products prohibited under U.S. law. R-CALF USA filed a lawsuit that protected the U.S. cattle herd and U.S. consumers from this unlawful action through December 2004.
In January 2005, under continued pressure from the multi-national meatpackers to relax U.S. import standards -- so said packers could access cheaper cattle from a country known to have BSE – USDA issued a faulty rule to relax U.S. import standards without properly assessing the risk that action would have on either human health or animal health. For the first time in history, USDA tried to set its health and safety standards well below the internationally recommended standards, and well below the standards practiced by every country in the world affected by BSE.
In response to USDA's rule to systematically reduce the United States' science-based health and safety standards simply to allow Canada to comply with U.S. law, R-CALF USA took a stand. On behalf of the 774,630 independent businesses that comprise the U.S. cattle industry, R-CALF USA challenged USDA's attempt to satisfy the financial self-interests of a handful of multi-national meatpackers, at the expense of the critically important U.S. cattle industry and the cattle industry's most valued customer – the U.S. consumer.
These independent businesses are taking this stand because they understand their commitment to U.S. consumers to provide only the safest beef, produced under the safest of conditions.
# # #
R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on domestic and international trade and marketing issues. R-CALF USA, a national, non-profit organization, is dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA's membership consists primarily of cow-calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and feedlot owners. Its members – over 14,000 strong – are located in 46 states, and the organization has over 60 local and state association affiliates, from both cattle and farm organizations. Various main street businesses are associate members of R-CALF USA. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.
