Agricultural News
Ron Hays Talks Trade and FMD Vaccine Bank for 2018 Farm Bill With Roy Lee Lindsay of the Oklahoma Pork Council
Tue, 04 Sep 2018 16:38:29 CDT
As September gets into high gear, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays talked with Roy Lee Lindsay of the Oklahoma Pork Council about several key issues important to the US Pork Industry. On the subject of trade- Lindsay focused on the most recent conversations that President Trump has been discussing- a potential trade deal with Mexico.
Last week, the President announced a US- Mexican Trade Agreement- a deal that he says will replace NAFTA. Lindsay says for the Pork Industry- the hope is to simply get back to what we had before all the turmoil has ocurred with the tariffs slapped on steel and aluminum by President Trump. Under NAFTA, US Pork had zero tariffs applied to it by both Mexico and Canada- and with Mexico representing as much as forty percent of the US pork export market- the industry is losing money by having to discount pork into the Mexican market to keep customers buying US Pork that has the 25% retaliatory tariff slapped on it by the Mexicans.
Hays and Lindsay also talked 2018 Farm Bill and the need to have the Conference Committee now working on the 2018 Farm Bill Report to include authorization and funding for the FMD Vaccine Bank being pushed for by both the US Pork and Beef Industries. Lindsay says the export market that he was discussing is the reason for an adequate FMD Vaccine Bank to be put into place. "Exports mean so much to the pork industry everyday. A foreign animal disease like FMD- foot and mouth disease- has the ability to completely shut down export markets for an undetermined amount of time. We'll open those markets back up by showing that we have the disease under control...the FMD Bank is one tool that we can use to control the disease if we ever get it here in the US."
Lindsay says for animal agriculture in the US- the FMD Vaccine Bank is an investment that will help us to respond to the disease and be able to minimize the shutdown of our international markets if we should ever have this disease develop in the US.
Lindsay also talked about the concerns of the Chinese outbreak of African Swine Fever- and why biosecurity here in the US- and in Oklahoma- is important to keeping out this foreign disease from the hog herds in the United States.
To listen to the conversation that Roy Lee Lindsay had with Ron Hays, click on the LISTEN BAR below for the complete Q&A on these topics.
Ron Hays talks trade and farm bill with Oklahoma Pork Council's Roy Lee Lindsay
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