4 West Virginia Farm Bureau News
PRESIDENTIAL PARADIGMS Brazilian Beef Imports Endanger U. S. Consumers, Cattle
Charles Wilfong, President, West Virginia Farm Bureau
Farmers & Ranchers Are Strongest When We Stand Together
across the country.
The Obama administration has struck another terrible blow to U. S. agriculture. On August 1, 2016, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that he was reopening the U. S. market to unlimited amounts of raw Brazilian beef.
Prior to August 1, shipments of fresh beef from Brazil had been blocked due to their continuing battle with foot-and-mouth disease and other dangerous cattle diseases. Our health and safety standards have been lowered to accommodate Brazil. Lowering these standards for Brazil puts U. S. consumers and cattle herds at risk of foreign diseases. Under provisions of this agreement, Brazil will be able to compete with some other foreign countries to send tens of thousands of tons of beef to the U. S.- tariff free. Additionally, they can send unlimited amounts of beef here if they pay an out-of-quota tariff of 26.4 %. It seems very likely that they will be willing to pay the tariff so they can have unlimited access to our market.
This action by USDA gives tremendous advantage
Zippy Duvall, President, American Farm Bureau Federation
Neighbors helping neighbors is a cornerstone on which Farm Bureau was founded. It’ s how we get things done. The more I travel across this land, the more I’ m convinced we all need to understand the issues our fellow farmers and ranchers are facing, whether ten miles down the road or thousands of miles
The challenges facing agriculture are very much like a diverse ecosystem, but when you take a closer look, you’ ll find that most American farmers are all tackling to multinational meat packers like JBS, which is based in Brazil. JBS controls a huge chunk of our U. S. beef processing.
The move comes at a time when U. S. cattle prices are already greatly depressed, and these actions will likely drive prices down even further. Our domestic cattle herd is the lowest it has been for decades and we continue to witness the loss of more U. S. cattle producers. Feedlots are operating well below capacity due to lack of return on feeding cattle.
Once again the Obama administration has chosen to advance the interests of others over the interests of U. S. producers.
These actions also highlight why we, as producers and consumers, truly need country-of-origin labeling for beef. Consumers deserve to have the ability to know where their food comes from. Our country of origin labeling for beef was struck down because it apparently violated provisions of certain trade agreements. It is amazing that we continue to elect leaders who don’ t put the interests and well-being of our people first.
one common invasive species: a federal system that too often lacks respect for individual property rights, economic competitiveness and fairness in general. From the Waters of the U. S. rulemaking and the Endangered Species Act, to public lands and water rights— the federal government continues to slap burdensome regulations on farmers without considering what it takes to keep an agricultural business up and running.
As your AFBF president, I want to see firsthand what you’ re facing on your farms and ranches, so I can tell your stories to our lawmakers on Capitol Hill and to farmers in other regions. On my recent travels
see Duvall, page 26