BY RACHEL LANE D.C. Correspondent WASHINGTON, D.C. — From wildfires on the Plains to avian influenza, the last few weeks for the American livestock industry have been a particularly ongoing challenge. Policies in place for sheep, cattle, poultry and pork farmers were a focus last week as the House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture continues to examine the current farm bill and how to improve it. Proposed rule changes for the USDA Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) were widely discussed during the meeting as a cause for concern. “The rule has been opposed by the vast majority of cattle producers since it was first introduced in 2010,” said Craig Uden, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA). “(Meat) packers have indicated that they are not willing to open themselves up to frivolous lawsuits and the legal risks this change in the competitive injury standard would create.” Uden said any attempt to restrict ownership of livestock should also be avoided. The language that has previously been proposed would limit a packer’s ability to own livestock. “These types of restrictions would limit the marketing options available to our producers and would represent interference in the marketplace by the federal government which we adamantly oppose,” he said. Among other issues, NCBA also opposes mandatory country-of-origin labeling, or COOL, programs, he explained. Uden said the group supports keeping conservation programs and research programs in the farm bill, and testified that a footand- mouth disease (FMD) vaccination bank needs to be stocked better in the United States. “FMD is highly contagious and has the potential to spread widely and rapidly, debilitating cloven-hoofed animals, such as cattle, swine, and sheep … An FMD outbreak in the United States could potentially cost our nation’s livestock producers billions of dollars in the first 12 months alone,” he added. In addition to concerns about FMB and the need for a bank, Bob Buchholz – a member of the board of directors of the American Sheep Industry Assoc. and past president of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Assoc. – said sheep producers are worried about predatory wildlife, which cost producers about $137 million annually, legal immigrant agriculture workers and mandatory price reporting. He said trade is needed by the industry because 50 percent of American wool is exported. Pork is another industry that relies heavily on international trade, said David Herring, vice president of the National Pork Producers Council. |