News Update
August 10, 2012
HSUS, OCM Form Alliance to Destroy Beef Checkoff
National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) President J.D. Alexander expressed disgust following an announcement that the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) has formed a partnership with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to destroy more than 25 years of market development and consumer demand building by the Beef Checkoff Program.
Specifically, OCM announced that it will file a lawsuit today seeking an injunction against the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Cattlemen's Beef Board and the Beef Promotion Operating Committee. OCM President and Director Fred Stokes stated during the press briefing that HSUS is helping fund its efforts to file the lawsuit. OCM claims to advocate for a fair, competitive agricultural marketplace; however, in doing so it partnered with an organization known for its anti-agriculture agenda. According to Alexander, independent research shows the beef checkoff is supported by nearly 75% of cattlemen and women.
"HSUS is an organization going state-by-state vowing to end production agriculture by outlawing scientifically validated production practices in animal agriculture. Their efforts put people out of business and often jeopardize the well-being of livestock," said Alexander.
OCM made no secrets about its connection to HSUS during the press conference.
Stokes said, "OCM and every cowboy out there owes a deep gratitude to the Humane Society of the United States."
Alexander, who is also an independent cattle feeder from Pilger, Neb., said it is paramount for cattlemen and cattlewomen to know that OCM is working with an extremist animal rights group to disable a program dedicated to building demand for beef.
"Their actions will impact consumers by increasing protein costs at the grocery store. They are no friend to family farmers and ranchers or consumers and will be challenged at every corner by NCBA," said Alexander. "Animal agriculture is vital to sustaining food production, and we will not sit by and allow these organizations to stifle our ability to mitigate hunger and feed people here and abroad."
Technology Enhanced to Evaluate Meat Tenderness, Color
A system designed by USDA scientists to predict superior beef tenderness is just as effective at predicting tenderness in pork and color stability in meat.
The noninvasive tenderness prediction system was developed in the 1990s by scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., to identify U.S. Select beef carcasses with outstanding tenderness in the ribeye/strip loin muscle. The technology is based on visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, and can be used without destroying any product from the carcass.
Food technologists Steven Shackelford, Andy King and Tommy Wheeler, who work in the USMARC Meat Safety and Quality Research Unit, invented the system and have tested it on more than 4,000 beef carcasses and 1,800 boneless pork loins.
In collaboration with the NCBA, they demonstrated how the technology could be applied on the ribeye during carcass grading at commercial processing facilities, and to individual cuts of meat after aging. They also partnered with the National Pork Board to successfully predict tenderness of boneless pork loins during the boning and trimming process.
For the full release, click here.
President Obama Calls for Passage of New Farm Bill
Congress has been getting a lot of pressure from rural states to take action on the current Farm Bill proposal and now the President is getting in on the action.
President Barack Obama spoke out this week on the Farm Bill debate, calling on lawmakers to approve new farm and food policy.
Speaking publicly at a White House Rural Council meeting, Obama outlined steps being undertaken by the USDA to help farmers and ranchers facing drought.
"Congress needs to pass a Farm Bill," the president said. "That new legislation is the single-best way that we can help rural communities both in the short term and in the long term."
USDA announced on Tuesday, Aug. 7, an additional $30 million would go toward programs helping producers in drought.
Drought to Impact Ethanol Exports
Exports of corn-based ethanol may suffer from the country's worst drought in more than 50 years, but prices for gasoline blended with the domestic fuel should not rise significantly, the government said on Wednesday. The drought has shriveled crops and boosted prices for corn to record levels late last month. The higher corn prices have also boosted prices for ethanol and helped push some distilleries to close until market conditions improve, according to Reuters.
The Energy Department's statistics wing, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), forecasted this week that U.S. ethanol output should fall by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 830,000 bpd for the second half of the year.
Gasoline prices should be spared despite the loss of ethanol output, the EIA said on Wednesday. "The impact of the forecasted decline in domestic ethanol production should be primarily reflected in reduced ethanol exports," the EIA said.
The United States transitioned from being a net importer of ethanol to a net exporter in 2010, and in 2011 it was the world's top producer of ethanol, ahead of Brazil. The EIA did not indicate how much imports should fall.
Flexibilities in the U.S. mandate for blending increasing volumes of ethanol into gasoline should help control gasoline prices, the EIA said.
The mandate allows fuel blenders to draw down stockpiles of ethanol and to apply banked credits representing produced ethanol known as Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, to achieve minimum blending levels.
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