7/24/2006 8:28:00 AM
Jolley: Talking About. . .Livestock Compensation, NAIS, BSE, Food Fads
"The livestock program was a joke. We had no losses. I don't know what Congress is thinking sometimes.
Nico de Boer, Texas Dairy farmer, talking about the $40,000 USDA Livestock Compensation Program check he received for being in the flight path of the Columbia shuttle when it broke up over east Texas in 2003. (Source: Washington Post, July 18, 2006)
>PS: He still cashed the check.
"First, there are general concerns over, frankly, government programs and general distrust of regulation. I think generally most people recognize the importance of development of the system. But they get unclear on the details. They become cautious on how it's going to work."
David Daley, cattle rancher and professor at California State University, Chico, explaining the major sticking point in NAIS. (Source: California Farm Bureau Federation, July 18, 2006)
>PS: Let me repeat a quote –‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.’
"I'd rather have the government stay out of my chicken yard."
Karl Hammer, Vermont chicken farmer, expressing an opinion about NAIS. (Source: Boston Globe, July 20, 2006)
''It's no fun finding them but this isn't highly unusual.''
Brad Wildeman, vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and a Lanigan, Saskatchewan feedlot operator, talking about the seventh mad cow found in Canada. (Source: Regina Leader-Post, July 19, 2006)
>PS: Is this an admission of a problem?
"It's time that our surveillance efforts reflect what we now know is a very, very low level of BSE in the United States. There is no significant BSE problem in the United States, and after all of this surveillance, I am able to say there never was."
Mike Johanns, USDA Secretary, announcing a 90% cutback in BSE testing. (Source: Washington Post, July 21, 2006)
>PS: Some think this is an expansion of the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ theory of governmental problem solving.
“We change what we talk about more than what we eat. We often mistake our willingness to try something new as a trend - but it's not, it's just trying something new! People like to think they are being adventurous, but in reality they are just eating the same things over and over.”
Harry Balzer, Vice President of research firm, NPD, explaining food trends at an Institute of Food Technologists meeting in Orlando (Source: FoodUSA, July 21, 2006)