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By Mike Barnett
Editor
The news that USDA will not allow meat from cattle over 30 months of age to be imported from Canada (see story, Page 13) sheds a different light on the work of a Texas Farm Bureau task force charged with considering the pros and cons of opening the U.S./Canadian border.
"The biggest concern of most producers was that opening the border to these older cattle was going to cause severe market distortions," said TFB task force chairman Dan Dierschke. "This announcement puts a whole new spin on things."
More encouraging, Dierschke said, was information given to him at a recent Texas Beef Council meeting. There, he was told by a National Cattlemen's Beef Association official that more Canadian beef was imported in 2004 than in 2002.
"We're already importing a tremendous amount of Canadian beef," Dierschke said. "And, the U.S. in 2004 had the highest level of beef imports ever...3.6 billion pounds was imported from many countries and only 400 million pounds went out. Yet prices remained extremely high. The great news is consumers are eating a tremendous amount of beef."
Dierschke said the task force still has a lot of ground to cover before it issues its report to the TFB Board of Directors on Feb. 28.
"We are examining all the issues that will determine if and when the border should open," Dierschke said. "The task force is concerned not only with the health and safety awareness that is involved in any decision to open the border, but with the economic impact as well."
While the TFB task force continues to study issues related to reopening the U.S. border to Canadian live cattle, members of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) passed an 11-point plan on Feb. 5 that ties reopening of that border to live cattle with other unresolved trade issues, such as the reopening of Japan, South Korea and Mexico to U.S. beef.
With that decision, passed unanimously by the Public Policy Division of the NCBA board and upheld at the annual membership meeting, NCBA said it will work to resolve a list of conditions before trade is resumed, including the following:
•Prohibit the importation of cattle and beef products from cattle more than 30 months of age.
•Assurance that all Canadian firewalls to prevent BSE, specifically adherence to their feed ban, are functioning properly.
•No feeder cattle imported until agreement is reached on harmonization of animal health standards, especially bluetongue and anaplasmosis.
•Movement of Canadian cattle into the United States must be managed to minimize market disruptions.
•Fed cattle imported for immediate slaughter must be certified to be less than 30 months of age at the time of importation.
•Ban the use of fetal bovine serum from heifers imported for immediate slaughter.
•USDA grades and stamps not be allowed on any imported beef product.
•Feeder cattle must be branded with a "CAN," individually identified with an ear tag, certified to be less than 30 months of age at time of slaughter, shipped in sealed trucks from the border directly to an approved feedlot, then moved directly in sealed trucks to slaughter.
•Feeder heifers imported into the United States from Canada must be spayed.
•USDA must work with its primary trading partners to ensure that expanded export access for U.S. beef is not in any way jeopardized by expanded importation of cattle and beef from Canada.
•The Administration must reach an agreement to reestablish beef and beef by-product trade with Japan, South Korea and Mexico, and apply economic sanctions if necessary.
Meanwhile, the task force, appointed by TFB President Kenneth Dierschke to study reopening the U.S. Canadian border to live cattle trade, is attracting national and international attention, Dan Dierschke said.
According to Dan Dierschke, offers of assistance or to be an information source to the task force have so far come in from:
•Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Bob McCan.
•Texas Cattle Feeders Association Chief Executive Officer Richard McDonald.
•A representative of a major meat packing firm, who offered to assist in arranging a tour of a packing plant in Canada.
•The executive officer of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, who offered to host the TFB task force if they decided to visit Canada. He also offered to meet in Texas with the task force.
Dan Dierschke, who attended the NCBA meeting, said reopening the border to Canadian beef dominated meetings, conversations and discussions.
He told of a session he attended, where an NCBA group with a charge similar to Texas Farm Bureau's task force, issued a report.
"The main concern focused on reopening our markets to beef from animals over 30 months of age," Dierschke said. "There was recognition that opposition to this category of meat is based on economics and not on sound science."
But there's a downside as well for the U.S. industry in not reopening the border to cull cows. There are only a few plants in the U.S. that process cull cows. The NCBA task force reported American plants would be at a competitive disadvantage if they are unable to purchase live "over 30 months of age" animals in Canada, and have to compete with the meat products from Canadian plants that are able to purchase these animals at much lower prices.
"They said if our cow killing plants go out of business, we will face severe problems in the future when more cull cows become available, and there are insufficient numbers of plants to harvest them," Dierschke related.
Another point of interest dealt with the concern that a flood of products will come into the U.S. when the Canadian border opens. The NCBA task force said there is not a "mountain or wall" of products waiting to come in. The NCBA team visited the High River slaughter facility in Canada and observed that carcass weights were actually down from previous levels. This indicates the situation is current since weights normally go up when backlogs develop. In addition, the NCBA task force found that Canada has relatively small amounts of cold storage, lessening a chance of a "mountain" of beef moving in. Also, the NCBA team flew over Canadian feedlots, and estimated that 65 to 70 percent of the feedlots' capacities were being used.
