USDA Reassures Consumers Food Supply is Safe from BSE Detected in California Dairy Cow 

USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford released the following statement on the detection of BSE in the United States:

"As part of our targeted surveillance system, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the nation's fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dairy cow from central California. The carcass of the animal is being held under state authority at a rendering facility in California and will be destroyed. It was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk to the food supply or human health. Additionally, milk does not transmit BSE.

"The United States has had longstanding interlocking safeguards to protect human and animal health against BSE. For public health, these measures include the USDA ban on specified risk materials, or SRMs, from the food supply. SRMs are parts of the animal that are most likely to contain the BSE agent if it is present in an animal. USDA also bans all nonambulatory (sometimes called "downer") cattle from entering the human food chain. For animal health, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ban on ruminant material in cattle feed prevents the spread of the disease in the cattle herd.

"Samples from the animal in question were tested at USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. Confirmatory results using immunohistochemistry and western blot tests confirmed the animal was positive for atypical BSE, a very rare form of the disease not generally associated with an animal consuming infected feed."

Click here to read more on the USDA's report about this case of BSE.

Industry Leaders, Senators say BSE Not a Threat To Human Food Supply 

Top beef industry leaders and key Senators say the announcement that a case of BSE has been confirmed in a dairy cow in a California rendering plant is not a threat to the human food supply.

Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation flatly stated, "American beef and dairy products are safe. The safeguards our government has in place to detect any incidence of this disease are clearly working."  Click here for Stallman's statement.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association Cattle Health and Well-being Committee Chairman Tom Talbot said, "USDA has confirmed this dairy animal was discovered at a rendering facility and was never presented for human consumption and poses zero risk to human health. The bottom line remains the same - all U.S. beef is safe."  Tom Talbot's statement is available by clicking here.

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry, and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), the Committee's Ranking Member, said that the USDA's proven firewalls and internationally recognized safeguards that protect against potential cases of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) worked as intended."  You can click here for the Senators' statement.

A statement by the US Meat Export Federation says the "latest finding will not have any impact on the United States' "controlled risk" BSE classification through the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and should not affect access for U.S. beef products in international markets."  Click here for a statement fron the USMEF.

Full List of Stories to Point You to Regarding BSE Announcement

Over last evening and early this morning- we have been pulling together various resources that are available to help tell the BSE story- and besides, the links above in the reaction provided by AFBF, NCBA, USMEF and the Senate Ag Leadership, we also have a few more places to point you to. AND- check back on our website during the day as more information becomes available. 

On today's Beef Buzz- we feature comments from Dr. Guy Loneragan who is now on staff at Texas Tech University in Lubbock- he has enough years under his belt to know the ins and outs of BSE- and especially the "Atypical" cases that we now have had three of here in the US.  On our Beef Buzz report- we focus on that aspect- and you can hear those comments by clicking here.

If you would like to hear the full expanded set of comments that Dr. Loneragan provided to the media late yesterday afternoon,  we have that on our web site as well.  He was served up to the media as a third party authority on the subject and fielded calls from mostly the trade media- with at least one general media reporter asking questions of him.  Total running time of the audio is 27 minutes- and includes a couple of comments from Colin Woodall of the NCBA Washington office- click here to jump to that story and audio.

USDA also offered a video later on Tuesday with Dr. John Clifford- we have that up on our website- click here to see that Q&A he offers on this latest discovery of BSE in the United States.  

Finally, the site that NCBA has built for these BSE occasions is a good resource as well- click here for BSEInfo. 

POSTPONED- Senate Ag Committee Fails to Get Cost Analysis to Amendments- Backs Off Wednesday Mark Up

The markup on the 2012 farm bill scheduled for Wednesday morning has been postponed, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and ranking member Pat Roberts, R-Kan., announced late Tuesday evening.

"The Agriculture Committee has made significant progress and have bipartisan agreement on the bulk of the farm bill," Stabenow said in a news release.

"We are committed to continuing to work together in a bipartisan way as we come to agreement on a few outstanding issues. This is a bill that impacts 16 million jobs and a huge sector of America's economy, and it is important that we move prudently to create the best possible product."

Roberts said he supported Stabenow's decision.
"Significant bipartisan progress has been made on many sections of the bill," he said. "Just a few issues remain to be worked out. I have given the chairwoman my commitment to getting this job done. I'm confident the committee can move forward in a bipartisan manner in the near future." 

The key reason for backing now the 9 AM Wednesday start is the lack of a budget score for the "Managers" set of amendments to the Chairman's mark- as well as no budget score from CBO on the other amendments that are expected to be served up.  

It is unknown how long of a delay Stabenow faces before she can fire up the process to push through legislation. The media advisory said a new time and date would be announced "Shortly."   

One final bit of frustration for the Senate Ag Committee, their website as I write this morning has crashed- hopefully, they get that back up "soon" as well. 

Crop Protection Industry Seeks New Ways to Speed Products to Market

One group that is very sensitive to regulatory changes in the agricultural arena is CropLife America. Since its inception, the group has been a proponent of science-based regulation of the crop protection industry. Regulated first by the USDA and later by the EPA, the crop protection industry has probably dealt with more regulatory issues than most other industries.

Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CropLife says it is challenging enough to keep up with Mother Nature, but the regulatory process can seem more challenging at times.

"In the late 90s we saw a great slowdown in the amount of time it took to get a new pesticide ingredient through the regulatory process. And it got up to well in excess of four years from the time of application until getting that license granted. And so we stepped up as an industry and negotiated through the Congress and with the EPA a scheme to force our industry to pay higher fees for improved service so the EPA would have more resources to hire more scientists, to afford more outside contractors, better information computer systems."

There's more to this story and you can hear our full interview with Jay Vroom by clicking here.

NFU's Roger Johnson Sees Positives and Negatives of Chairwoman's Mark of Farm Bill

Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union has been following the developments surrounding the farm bill mark that has come out of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He says he sees positives and negatives in the progress so far.

"I think if you look at the bright side of this, having the mark released by the chair and the ranking member is a pretty strong signal there's serious effort behind this and that there's been a lot of work done behind the scenes to try and put some of the deals together to accommodate the various interests."

He says he sees two areas of disappointment with the mark so far. One deals with the area of energy which has been dramatically cut back, the other deals with crop price protection.

"You know, as far as rural America, rural development in the last two or three decades has largely been a function of what's happened with renewable energy. So that seems to be something we would want to pay attention to, to keep a focus on.

"The other area I would say we are disappointed in, and maybe it's just not possible to get it done given the political atmosphere, but we need some sort of long term protection from price collapse. Maybe a better way to put it would be protection from a long-term price collapse.

Roger Johnson spoke at length with us in Washington.  Please click here for more of his story and to listen to his full interview.

Video Wednesday- Angus Beef, Berry Remembers the Good OLD Days and Offering Hope for POOR Lawyers 

Cutting costs is important, but it is not the only way to improve profits in the cattle industry.

Colorado Angus breeder Troy Marshall recommends such practices as age and source verification and targeting cattle for certain grids.

Click here to see a video interview with Troy Marshall speaking about adding value for a bigger bottom line.  

On Monday of this week, Kentucky small farm activist and populist writer Wendell Berry appeared at the Kennedy Center in our nation's Capitol.  We have the video of his lecture where he longed for the old days of farming- and considered modern agriculture as evil.  Click here for our story with the video for you to see of Wendell Berry on this national stage.

Finally- I have saved the best for last- the geniuses at HumaneWatch have outdone themselves this time- as long as you are not a lawyer- you will be amused to say the least if you don't like the deceptive nature of the HSUS fundraising often seen on TV.  Click here for a laugh or two- with a nice dose of the truth about what HSUS is up to in raising their millions.