News Update

News Update
June 9, 2006

Johanns releases conservation paper for next Farm Bill

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today released a conservation program analysis paper authored by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) economists. It is the second in a series of papers intended to provide factual information about policy alternatives in preparation for the 2007 Farm Bill. The next subject for analysis will be rural development.

“These analysis papers educate the public about how our programs operate and how they might be redesigned,” Johanns said. “The alternatives are not USDA policy proposals, rather an effort by some of the finest economists in the world to provide straightforward information.”

At the end of March, Johanns announced the release of 41 papers summarizing the 4,000 comments received during 52 USDA Farm Bill Forums and via the Internet. In preparing for the 2007 farm bill, USDA is gathering from these papers a number of themes that warrant further analysis. The first analysis paper, released in May, focused on risk management.

The newly released conservation paper discusses natural resource issues, current USDA conservation programs administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and policy alternatives.

The conservation paper is available at www.usda.gov/farmbill.

South Korea to U.S. beef industry: Change your processing procedures

South Korea is suggesting that the U.S. change its meat-processing procedures if it wants to resume business in the Korean market, Pete Hisey reported on meatingplace.com. Park Hyun-chool, head of the Agriculture Ministry’s livestock bureau, said in a radio interview in Seoul yesterday that U.S. processors should run more than a single slaughter line to separate U.S. and Canadian cattle, as well as cattle under and over 30 months of age.

Park also suggested that different equipment be used to slaughter older cattle in order to lower the risk of potential cross-contamination from older animals, which are at higher risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the article continued.

Canadian cattle exports to U.S. exceed 1 million

Reuters reported that Canada has exported more than 1 million cattle to the United States since the border reopened last July to cattle less than 30 months of age, showing the industry is “back on track,” a Canadian Cattlemen’s Association spokesman said on Wednesday.

More than 1.05 million Canadian cattle have been exported to the United States since July 2005, a Canadian Food Inspection Agency document states, the Reuters article said. This is down 32% from the 1.5 million exported in 2002 and up 19% from the 884,000 exported in 2000, according to Agriculture Canada’s statistics on slaughter and feeder cattle.

Cattle imports from the United States have been in response to temporary shortages of market-ready cattle in Canada, the article continued.

— compiled by Meghan Richey, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.