News Update
Jan. 26, 2010

More High-Quality Beef Hits Consumer Target

U.S. beef keeps getting better. The past year provided another leg upward in the recent trend toward higher quality grades in fed cattle, which drive boxed beef prices.

“USDA Choice and Select are the two leading volume grades,” explains Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist with Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), who tracks weekly variations in grading reports. “Brands and specifications further define a pleasurable dining experience, but quality grade still sets the baseline bar for price.”

Choice beef is usually worth more than Select, and the difference, the weekly Choice/Select spread is a key to value-based grid marketing. “Certainly, the Prime grade is more valuable, but only 2% to 3% of cattle typically hit that level of marbling,” Dykstra notes. “Some branded programs capitalize on the distinct difference in marbling premium Choice and the lower third, further driving value there.” Read more.

San Antonio Will Host 2010 Cattle Industry Convention

Angus Productions Inc. (API) is providing online coverage of the 2010 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show (www.4cattlemen.com) and the 2010 Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle Symposium (www.appliedreprostrategies.com). Both are taking place this week in San Antonio, Texas.

API coverage will be posted to www.angus.org immediately following the events and will be archived with supporting materials to the respective meeting coverage sites.

President Obama, Secretary Vilsack Announce Intent to Nominate Elisabeth Hagen as USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety

President Obama today announced his intent to nominate Elisabeth Hagen as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Food Safety. Hagen will serve with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“There is no more fundamental function of government than protecting consumers from harm, which is why food safety is one of USDA’s top priorities,” Vilsack said. “We can and must do a better job of ensuring the safety of meat and poultry products regulated by USDA, and Dr. Hagen brings the background, skills, and vision to lead USDA’s efforts to make sure that Americans have access to a safe and healthy food supply.”

The Food Safety mission of USDA includes the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which is the public health agency in the USDA responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. When the President announced the creation of the Food Safety Working Group last March, he said, “In recent years, we’ve seen a number of problems with the food making its way to our kitchen tables ... That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable.” President Obama charged Secretary Vilsack and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the co-chairs of the Food Safety Working Group, with working to upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout government; and ensure that we enforce these laws to keep the American people safe. As part of this effort, Secretary Vilsack has instituted a top-to-bottom review of USDA’s food safety regulations.

Elisabeth Hagen is currently the USDA’s Chief Medical Officer, serving as an advisor to USDA mission areas on a wide range of human health issues. Prior to her current post, she was a senior executive at FSIS, where she played a key role in developing and executing the agency’s scientific and public health agendas. She has been instrumental in building relationships and fostering coordination with food safety and public health partners at the federal, state, and local level.

Before joining the federal government in 2006, Hagen taught and practiced medicine in both the private and academic sectors, most recently in Washington, D.C. She graduatedfrom Harvard Medical School, and has an undergraduate degree from Saint Joseph’s University. Dr. Hagen completed her specialty medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern and the University of Pennsylvania, and is board certified in infectious disease. She is married and lives with her husband and two young children in Northern Virginia.

— Release provided by USDA.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Announces Millions to Promote U.S. Food and Agricultural Exports

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the allocation of $234.5 million to 70 U.S. trade organizations to help promote American food and agricultural products overseas.

“In today’s highly competitive international markets, we must provide our exporters with the resources they need to compete overseas during the 21st century,” Vilsack said. “When you consider the current global financial crisis, increasing production in key competitor countries and aggressive use of export promotion tools by our competitors, USDA’s market development programs are more important than ever.”

The funding announced today was allocated under the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Cooperator Program, both administered by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

The MAP uses funds from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to share the costs of overseas market development and promotional activities with U.S. nonprofit agricultural trade organizations, state regional trade groups, and cooperatives. Activities conducted with MAP funding include market research, consumer promotions for retail products, technical capacity building, and seminars to educate overseas customers.

Under the FMD program, USDA’s CCC establishes a partnership with nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organizations. Funding priority is given to organizations that represent an entire industry or are nationwide in membership and scope. Program activities focus on reducing market impediments, improving the processing capabilities of importers, modifying restrictive regulatory codes and standards in foreign markets, and identifying new markets or uses for U.S. products.

For more information about FAS’s market development programs, contact the Office of Trade Programs at 202-720-4327, or visit www.fas.usda.gov/mos/marketdev.asp. For a full list of allotments visit http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/01/0033.xml.

— Release by USDA.

Safety Around Livestock is Imperative

Kansas State University (K-State) animal scientist Chris Reinhardt has a saying: “The good ol’ days never were.”

“What I mean is, when we start to get a little more salt than pepper in our hair, we start to reminisce about how good things used to be,” said Reinhardt, who is the feedlot Extension specialist with K-State Research and Extension. “The problem is we almost always put on rose-colored glasses in that process.”

Reinhardt agrees that some things were better in the “good ol’ days,” but when it comes to modern agriculture, practices and equipment have almost all gotten better, safer, more reliable, and easier to use.

“One topic I think I would get little argument on is cattle handling facilities,” he said. “Compare what is found on many cattle operations today to what was common 30, 20, or even only 10 years ago. Hydraulics have made the squeeze chute not only easier to use but also safer for both the cattle and the people using them. And that really should be our primary objective.”

“Yes, the cattle need to be worked,” he added, “and maybe you’ve got a ball game to get to tonight. But I can’t think of any ball game worth sacrificing human or animal safety for. We’ve all heard or told stories about the old cow that wouldn’t let us tag her calf or that bull that chased us over the fence.”

Those make great stories, he said, adding that he hopes the next generation of ranchers has fewer stories to tell than their parents and grandparents have.

Reinhardt said bovine disposition is a genetic trait: “Ringy old cows and bulls need to go to town, and by all means don’t keep replacements out of them. I don’t care how big a calf she raised, is she worth a broken arm, leg, or worse?”

“You simply can’t put a price tag on safety,” he said. “When working with livestock, think safety first. Think of the safest way to get that cow in, not the fastest. What is the safest way to get the calves gathered and processed, not the fastest. Ironically, in the long run, the safest way is almost always the easiest and fastest anyway.”

— Release by K-State Research and Extension.

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.