News Update
Sept. 30, 2010

NCBA Members Assist in Push for Commonsense Regulations

During the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Legislative Conference Sept. 14-16, cattlemen and women discussed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recent policy assessment for particulate matter (dust) with their respective lawmakers. The providers of food for a growing global population encouraged their elected leaders to sign a letter led by U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) expressing concerns regarding EPA’s stringent regulations void of science and reality. NCBA Chief Environmental Counsel Tamara Thies said their efforts paid off.

“Due in part to our members speaking up, a bipartisan group of 75 lawmakers signed the letter issuing concern about the draft policy assessment EPA released in July,” said Thies. “It would be virtually impossible for many critical U.S. industries to comply with this standard, even with use of best-management practices to control dust. All of us certainly want to keep our communities healthy, but this is nothing more than the everyday dust kicked up by a car driving down a dirt road, and it has long been found to be of no health concern at ambient levels.”

The July draft policy assessment “lays the foundation for establishing the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation’s history,” the lawmakers wrote EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Monday, Sept. 27. “We urge the EPA to refrain from going down this path.” The lawmakers said they are “hopeful common sense will prevail and EPA will refrain from causing extreme hardships to farmers, livestock producers, and other resource-based industries throughout rural America.”

Last week, U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) held a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee to express concerns directly to Jackson.

“There’s a feeling out in the country that you walked in, the president walked in, and every idea for more regulation was dusted off and cut loose and agriculture is under attack,” said U.S. Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb.). “That’s how people feel.”

On Wed., Sept. 28, Thies will speak on behalf of U.S. cattle producers during a forum for House members regarding EPA’s actions.

“Farmers and ranchers could be fined for everyday activities like driving a tractor down a dirt road or tilling a field,” said Thies. “It would effectively bring economic growth and development to a halt in many areas of the country. We are talking about jobs here. I will speak firmly against EPA’s attempt to regulate our members out of business. This needs to stop now.”

— Release by NCBA.

USMEF’s Haggard Addresses Sustainability, Global Meat Exports

The challenge of meeting a growing global appetite for red meat in an environment that is increasingly aware of and sensitive to sustainability issues was addressed by Joel Haggard, senior vice president, Asia-Pacific for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), yesterday at the World Meat Congress 2010 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“Asia, in particular, has a growing appetite for red meat, and this region is an area of future growth for the U.S. pork and beef sectors — as well as our competitors,” said Haggard.

“Production resources in the United States, such as grain acreage, are in limited supply,” he noted. “With sustainability awareness and accounting increasing, production costs might increase. However, the track record of the U.S. beef and pork industries in terms of increasing production efficiencies has been positive, and U.S. livestock producers have faith in the ability of technology to continue to yield gains in production efficiencies.”

Haggard cited the success of the U.S. corn industry during a 20-year span from 1987 through 2007 when it reduced the amount of land needed to produce one bushel of corn by 37%, cut irrigation water use by 27%, reduced soil loss by 69%, and slashed emissions and energy usage by 30% and 37%, respectively.

Similarly, he noted efficiencies in beef and pork production as the meat production per animal has more than doubled for the U.S. pork industry since 1980 while the U.S. beef industry is producing 13% more beef from 13% fewer animals. In both cases, feed and water utilization are down, as are land usage, energy and carbon emissions.

In key markets, such as China, a shift in meat self-sufficiency can have a huge effect on global meat markets, and Haggard believes sustainability considerations could be a factor in those decisions.

“A drop in China’s pork self-sufficiency to 90% would equate to roughly 5 million metric tons (11 billion pounds) in imports — close to the total of all global pork trade volumes currently,” Haggard said. “China faces agricultural sustainability challenges from a number of standpoints. If China were to factor in the cost of sustainability and assess whether for the economy as a whole it may be beneficial to import more meat rather than use scarce domestic resources to produce it, the implications are significant. If every livestock-producing country included its sustainability costs fully into its livestock production equation, global meat prices might look different from those of today.”

— Release by USMEF.

NMSU Names Gerald Thomas Chair

New Mexico State University (NMSU) faculty member Milton Thomas has been named the Gerald Thomas Chair in Food Production and Natural Resources in the university’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

Thomas is a professor of beef cattle physiology and genetics in the department of animal and range sciences. As the Gerald Thomas Chair, he will continue his research of fertility issues in New Mexico beef and dairy cattle.

He began researching this area about nine years ago and leads a team of researchers from across the United States studying cattle fertility. This effort is coordinated through the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Thomas will travel to Australia in the summer of 2011 under the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization McMasters Fellowship to work with a genetics research team. This collaboration also will provide funds for a doctoral student exchange between Australia and NMSU.

“Whole genome research has given us unbelievable tools to help find important genes that regulate fertility in cattle,” Thomas said. “Genome information such as this cuts time and money out of breeding and production.”

Thomas also plans to present talks, as well as bring in guest speakers such as Jim Reecy, professor of animal science at Iowa State University, and David Daley, of California State University, Chico.

More than 250 of Thomas’ articles have appeared in journals, research reports and other publications. He also serves on the board of directors of the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) and has contributed to NMSU’s molecular biology program. Thomas received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and received his doctorate from Texas A&M University.

The Gerald W. Thomas Chair in Food Production and Natural Resources was established in honor of President Emeritus Thomas. When Thomas retired in 1984, the college endowed the $1 million chair — the first in university history.

— Release by NMSU.

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