Agricultural News
R-CALF Members Voice Views on Capitol Hill
Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:20:34 CST
Members of R-CALF USA were in Washington, D.C. last week to participate in a day-long workshop, sponsored by the Departments of Justice and Agriculture. They also shared their views on various issues with members of Congress and Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. Their " at point" issue was the new competition rule issued by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
South Dakota Stockgrowers Association Director Vaughn Meyer says, - the new competition rule was immediately needed to begin addressing what he called an alarming loss of one-thousand cattle producers per month from Rural America. Meyer pointed to the disrupted cattle cycle as evidence the cattle market is no longer functioning properly. He said the industry's challenge for the next 10 years will be to figure out how to keep ranchers ranching.
Allen Lund, director of the Independent Beef Association of North Dakota said - because he is at the beginning of the cattle supply chain, losses that feedlot owners experience from the non-transparent market for fed cattle are passed on to him as a cow/calf producer in the form of lower prices for his calves. Auburn University economist C. Robert Taylor cited data collected in the fed cattle market in the Amarillo, Texas, market region that showed for 40 percent of the year, cattle feeders received only one bid or less for their cattle. According to Taylor - that's not competition
Other subjects covered by R-CALF USA members included what the organization calls USDA's recent relaxation of foot-and-mouth disease restrictions for Brazil and also urged USDA to reverse the over-30-month rule that currently allows cattle born in Canada to be exported to the United States. The group also expressed concern for the Beef Checkoff Program which it says is being misused and mishandled by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
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