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• Determine the implications for Texas beef producers of reopening the U.S. borders to Canadian beef imports.
• Determine compliance of the Canadian beef industry with the ban on feeding ruminant protein to livestock.
• Evaluate the BSE status in Canada and any potential impact on U.S. consumer confidence.
• Assess current U.S. trade policy relative to BSE and other animal health and safety concerns and its credibility with other major trading partners such as Japan and Korea.
By Mike Barnett
Editor
The discovery of a third case of BSE in Canadian cattle, including two cases since the first of the year, has prompted the president of the Texas Farm Bureau to appoint a task force to examine the impact of reopening the U.S./Canadian border to beef imports.
"The Texas Farm Bureau feels that this issue must be examined very closely," said TFB President Kenneth Dierschke. "Our members want the U.S. to take all possible steps to maintain consumer confidence in the beef supply."
Dierschke appointed Travis County beef producer Dan Dierschke, a member of the TFB Board of Directors and Chairman of the Texas Beef Council, to chair the task force.
Dan Dierschke said Texas producers have big concerns, including the economic impact of a flood of cattle coming into the U.S. on March 7, the date USDA has set to reopen the border.
Pete Case, chairman of the Texas Farm Bureau Beef Advisory Committee and another task force member, concurred.
"How many cattle would we maybe see come into our country that might have originally been intended for a country that is not taking Canadian cattle at this time," said Case, who ranches in Schleicher County. "And just how much burden are we going to be carrying? And just how much can we stand? Those are the kind of things that need to be considered."
Other areas of concern will be highlighted, Dan Dierschke said, as the task force evaluates the BSE status in Canada.
"We want to evaluate what potential impact this might have on the confidence U.S. consumers have in their beef supply," said Dan Dierschke, who also serves on the U.S. Meat Export Federation Board. "And, we want to look at the overall trade policy that we have—either for BSE or some other animal health safety concern—and see how this trade policy has credibility with our major trading partners, namely Mexico, Japan and Korea."
Complicating the issue, Dan Dierschke said, is the action the United States does or does not take against Canada can have an effect on U.S. meat exports to other nations.
Most important, he said, is the reopening of international markets to U.S. beef prior to reopening the Canadian border. He noted there is an additional $150 to $200 return per head to American producers if markets are totally open.
"It is advantageous for the American beef industry for the border to be reopened, if indeed our export markets are open to us at the same time, or prior to that," Dan Dierschke said. "We can export an amount of product that exceeds the amount that Canada would be shipping to us. We feel like we are in a double bind, however, if we cannot export product while at the same time we are receiving product from Canada."
Case agreed: "We don't want to be a hindrance to global commerce. But, at the same token, we have to protect our industry and our producers."
Besides Dan Dierschke and Pete Case, task force members include the following:
•Vice Chairman Albert Thompson of Nacogdoches County, a beef producer, TFB Board member and member of the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
•Bud Alldredge, a Nolan County beef producer, veterinarian and chairman of the TFB Animal Health Committee. He is also a member of the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation Animal Health Committee.
•Earl Minze, a Freestone County rancher and member of TFB's Beef Advisory and Animal Health committees.
•Darren Turley, an Erath County dairyman and chairman of the TFB Dairy Advisory Committee. He also serves on the AFBF Dairy Advisory Committee.
The task force, Dan Dierschke said, has an "extraordinarily complex" job ahead of it: "I want to reassure Texas Farm Bureau members that we are evaluating all the different components that will determine the appropriateness and timing of the opening of the border. We want everyone to be assured that the task force is concerned both with the economic impact and the health/safety awareness that is involved in this decision."
The task force will report to the TFB Board of Directors on Feb. 28. The TFB Board will then determine what comments to make to USDA regarding the Canadian border reopening.
