Some of the attendees from the United States at the second global animal welfare meeting were Dr. Paul DuBois, Cargill Pork; Dr. W. Ron DeHaven, AVMA CEO; Dr. Michael David, USDA-APHIS; Joan Galvin, JD, Kelley Drye & Warren; Dr. Elizabeth Parker, National Cattlemen's Beef Association; Kay Johnson Smith, Animal Agriculture Alliance; Chuck Lambert, PhD, USDA; Dr. Gail C. Golab, AVMA Animal Welfare Division; Dr. Jennifer Greiner, National Pork Producers Council; and Dr. Chester Gipson, USDA-APHIS.
The AVMA CEO is encouraging veterinarians worldwide to take responsibility for implementing animal welfare standards.
"Veterinarians in all types of practice have the opportunity and obligation to help animal owners, caretakers, handlers, and policy makers improve animal welfare," Dr. W. Ron DeHaven said.
Dr. DeHaven delivered the comments at a global animal welfare conference Oct. 20-22 in Cairo, Egypt, where he was among more than 400 veterinarians, government officials, humane group representatives, and industry representatives who met to discuss animal welfare standards. He and Dr. Gail C. Golab, director of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division, actively participated in the event.
He is also encouraging veterinarians to back standards that are driven by science, with appropriate consideration given to the environments in which they are being implemented.
"Among the most important responsibilities that veterinarians have in development and implementation of animal welfare standards is to ensure those standards are science-based and that consideration has been given to interactions among the various components of animal care systems," Dr. DeHaven said.
The conference was the second global animal welfare meeting for the World Organization for Animal Health, the first having been held in 2004 in Paris. The recent meeting was primarily focused on implementing OIE standards in developing countries.
Dr. Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), also said veterinarians, veterinary services, and their partners throughout the world need to take more responsibility for animal welfare and implementing humane animal care standards.
Dr. DeHaven was invited to present a paper on the veterinary profession's role in implementing OIE standards, and he emphasized in his presentation that there are no better advocates for animals than veterinarians. He also encouraged development and implementation of animal welfare standards that include considerations of human needs, environmental concerns, and economic realities.
In his presentation, Dr. DeHaven talked about the roles veterinarians could fill in implementing standards in developed and developing countries. In doing so, he invoked consideration of animals' physiologic, safety, and psychologic needs.
Veterinarians in developing countries often have limited resources and encounter human needs that compete with animal welfare concerns for attention, Dr. DeHaven said. "They will likely spend most of their time helping owners find ways to fulfill animals' physiological and safety needs, since meeting these needs generally provides the greatest return on investment in terms of quality and quantity of animal product."
He encouraged veterinarians practicing in developed countries where resources are more plentiful to look beyond basic needs to satisfy animals' more complex safety and psychologic needs. Dr. DeHaven said veterinarians have a professional obligation to comprehensively evaluate approaches to animal care, use their expertise and influence to maximize all aspects of the animals' welfare, and help people understand the complexity of animal care decisions.
The conference theme was "Putting the OIE Standards to Work," and attendees reviewed the state of implementation of standards for transporting livestock, slaughtering animals for human consumption, and killing animals to control disease.
Dr. Nestor Tadich, dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Universidad Austral de Chile, said Columbia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay have legislation based on OIE standards, and Chile is introducing OIE recommendations on animal welfare and producing guides on good practices for farmers and veterinarians.
Among 22 veterinary schools in Latin America that provided answers to a questionnaire, four have only optional animal welfare courses, 10 have only compulsory courses, one has one of each, and seven have none, Dr. Tadich said. Of those that have such courses, five have more than one.
The universities polled are located in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Respondents at 18 of the veterinary schools indicated animal welfare is taught in other courses, Dr. Tadich said. Respondents at 19 said animal welfare is an important issue, and 12 indicated their schools conduct research in animal welfare.
Dr. Tadich said in his presentation that constraints or limitations in Latin American universities include a dearth of staff trained in animal welfare concepts, overloaded curricula, lack of support for research, lack of research for postgraduate programs, cultural traditions such as bullfighting, poverty, lack of legislation supporting animal welfare recommendations, lack of public awareness, and distrust toward people encouraging observance of animal welfare standards.
Dr. Nils Beaumond of the Animal Welfare Committee of the International Meat Secretariat advocated against animal welfare labeling on meat products, which he said could present a new trade barrier. He argued in his presentation that the focus should be on outcomes, not means.
Dr. Beaumond said demands from provegetarian and extremist groups surpass animal welfare requirements, and collaboration with the extremist groups is impossible.
Dr. Peter Thornber, manager of Australian Animal Welfare Strategy and Communications, talked about how planning and management can be used to mitigate stress for animals during transportation. He said farmers, agents, drivers, and shippers have to share responsibility, and appropriate vehicle design, trained drivers, travel plans, and prepared animals are needed.
Research and data analysis can help in creation of practical standards, Dr. Thornber said.
Dr. Thornber said indications of acceptable welfare include animals that are free of visible injuries or postslaughter evidence of carcass bruising, animals that walk up loading ramps with minimal intervention, animals are deemed fit before loading, and animals that can walk off vehicles unaided.
—Greg Cima
Monday, December 8, 2008
Point/Counterpoint: Pacelle vs Mucklow
Recent videos taken by undercover investigators from The Humane Society of the United States at a well-known slaughter plant and at several auction sites have painted the beef industry in a bad light.
The California video showed mistreatment of cattle at a harvesting facility; investigations at five auctions sites showed other types of neglect or mistreatment of downer cows. Animal protection groups say the findings reveal that abuse is not isolated and rare. The beef industry says those cases are anomalies and, as rare as they are, must and will be addressed quickly.
How widespread is the abuse and what is the beef industry doing to combat the problem? I posed that question to two of the most erudite people standing on opposite sides of the fence; Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and Rosemary Mucklow, Director Emeritus of the National Meat Association.
Their comments about the severity of the taped incidents were remarkably similar; uniformly condemning the offenses. As you might have expected, they started to part ways after that initial agreement. Are those offenses really an anomaly as Ms. Mucklow suggests or possibly endemic as Mr. Pacelle fears?
One point of contention - Pacelle, upon finding more cases of animal abuse, will continue to play his videotapes at the most newsworthy time. He wants to make an impact with heavy press coverage. Mucklow, who thinks HSUS should be more forthcoming, will continue to insist that the organization “promptly convey their observations and concerns to the proper authorities.”
Here is how they answered the question –
Wayne Pacelle: “First, let me say that I appreciate the opportunity to discuss animal welfare issues in a serious and direct way in an important meat industry forum. When I read some of the industry press about me, I think "I don't know that guy," because it seems like such a caricature of me and HSUS's positions. That's why I appreciate the opportunity to communicate directly to folks in the industry and allow them to make judgments based on my words.
I also appreciate being able to communicate after November 4th and after the votes have been tallied on Proposition 2, the California ballot initiative to ban the lifelong confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and egg-laying hens. It does not directly relate to the question posed to me and Ms. Mucklow today, but it is pertinent because it speaks to public attitudes on animal welfare and animal agriculture and how the public is seeing the issues and the respective messengers.
As most folks within the agriculture sector know by now, Proposition 2 passed by a vote of 63.3% to 36.7%, and it was approved in 46 of 58 counties. Prop 2 got more "yes" votes than any of the other 11 propositions, and it won throughout the vast majority of the state, including in agricultural counties in the Central Valley such as Kern and San Joaquin counties.
In terms of spending, it was a fair fight. Both sides spent about the same money after the signature-gathering phase was completed and the measure was approved for placement on the ballot. About 250 agricultural producers and trade associations donated about $8.5 million in an attempt to defeat Proposition 2; most of the contributors were large-scale egg factory farms, but many were farm bureau groups and some were pig producers from throughout the nation.
By a nearly two-to-one margin, the public opted to phase out the confinement systems, believing that the industry has gone too far in treating animals like commodities and has lost sight of its animal welfare responsibilities. I think it's another wake-up call to the industry -- following on the heels of the Hallmark/Westland investigation -- to reform.
To answer the question posed above, we just do not know how widespread problems are in the slaughter industry. But here's what we do know. HSUS investigators looked at six locations -- one slaughter plant and five auctions. We found problems at every location. Lighting may strike once or twice, but not six times. There's a major problem here, and that's what we reported. USDA's Office of Inspector General also found major problems when it looked at slaughter plants in a January 2006 report. And other animal welfare groups have found problems at a wide variety of slaughter plants -- from Agriprocessors in Iowa to Pilgrim's Pride in West Virginia. A worker was just charged with criminal cruelty at a major hog factory farm investigated by PETA in North Carolina. The industry needs to address these problems head-on and not dismiss them as rogue actors or isolated incidents, yet that is how some trade associations continue to frame the issue.
Hallmark/Westland was chosen at random. Our investigator was attempting to investigate a different location in California, but did not get hired by the facility, so instead he applied at Hallmark, got a job, and worked there and documented terrible, routine abuses, even though USDA had five inspectors at the plant. The treatment of the animals was unconscionable, yet this plant was recognized as recently as 2005 by the Agricultural Marketing Service as the "Supplier of the Year." The plant workers and management were to blame, but so was the USDA, whose inspectors allowed this mistreatment to continue day after day. The USDA's failures call into question the effectiveness of its oversight and enforcement program. If this can occur at a "Supplier of the Year," what must be happening at the thousands of other plants?
The first four auctions we looked at were also selected at random -- a sampling of places in four different states. The final one, Portales, was selected specifically because our investigator at Hallmark said that many of the cows sent there had come from Portales. The industry shouldn't tolerate this mistreatment of animals anywhere, and it is more than distressing to see these problems at every location we examined.
I'd like to say that if we conducted six additional investigations that we'd find no major problems. But based on our experience, I'd not expect that outcome. As the old saying goes, past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.”
Rosemary Mucklow: “The incidents at the slaughter facility documented by HSUS were exceptional, and were universally condemned by the industry.
Those responsible have paid a very heavy price – the individual employees have been prosecuted, the company is out of business, and its customers have suffered enormous financial losses.
Can there be better evidence that it is in the self-interest of the meat industry to maintain humane handling standards? Not only is humane handling of livestock the law, it is good business and clearly the right thing to do.
For many years the industry has voluntarily developed best practices, improved facility designs for movement of livestock and executed focused training programs to assure proper animal handling. The meat industry is very aware of the importance of handling livestock humanely and has, through ongoing efforts, met the standard.
However, even isolated incidents are unacceptable. Accordingly, in response to the HSUS reports the livestock and meat industry associations, as well as associations representing marketing and transportation entities, have thoroughly reviewed the many means of guidance on animal handling. Best practices, training materials and operational oversight have all been closely scrutinized and, where appropriate, modified and enhanced for maximum effectiveness. These actions are all part of the industry’s commitment to continuous improvement.
Furthermore, the U.S. regulatory system sets parameters for acceptable behavior. And there are checks and balances to ensure these parameters are met.
It was unfortunate that HSUS chose to delay for several months reporting their observations to USDA and other authorities thereby delaying corrective actions. I encourage HSUS or any other organization that truly wants to have a positive impact on the humane handling of livestock to promptly convey their observations and concerns to the proper authorities.”
The California video showed mistreatment of cattle at a harvesting facility; investigations at five auctions sites showed other types of neglect or mistreatment of downer cows. Animal protection groups say the findings reveal that abuse is not isolated and rare. The beef industry says those cases are anomalies and, as rare as they are, must and will be addressed quickly.
How widespread is the abuse and what is the beef industry doing to combat the problem? I posed that question to two of the most erudite people standing on opposite sides of the fence; Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and Rosemary Mucklow, Director Emeritus of the National Meat Association.
Their comments about the severity of the taped incidents were remarkably similar; uniformly condemning the offenses. As you might have expected, they started to part ways after that initial agreement. Are those offenses really an anomaly as Ms. Mucklow suggests or possibly endemic as Mr. Pacelle fears?
One point of contention - Pacelle, upon finding more cases of animal abuse, will continue to play his videotapes at the most newsworthy time. He wants to make an impact with heavy press coverage. Mucklow, who thinks HSUS should be more forthcoming, will continue to insist that the organization “promptly convey their observations and concerns to the proper authorities.”
Here is how they answered the question –
Wayne Pacelle: “First, let me say that I appreciate the opportunity to discuss animal welfare issues in a serious and direct way in an important meat industry forum. When I read some of the industry press about me, I think "I don't know that guy," because it seems like such a caricature of me and HSUS's positions. That's why I appreciate the opportunity to communicate directly to folks in the industry and allow them to make judgments based on my words.
I also appreciate being able to communicate after November 4th and after the votes have been tallied on Proposition 2, the California ballot initiative to ban the lifelong confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and egg-laying hens. It does not directly relate to the question posed to me and Ms. Mucklow today, but it is pertinent because it speaks to public attitudes on animal welfare and animal agriculture and how the public is seeing the issues and the respective messengers.
As most folks within the agriculture sector know by now, Proposition 2 passed by a vote of 63.3% to 36.7%, and it was approved in 46 of 58 counties. Prop 2 got more "yes" votes than any of the other 11 propositions, and it won throughout the vast majority of the state, including in agricultural counties in the Central Valley such as Kern and San Joaquin counties.
In terms of spending, it was a fair fight. Both sides spent about the same money after the signature-gathering phase was completed and the measure was approved for placement on the ballot. About 250 agricultural producers and trade associations donated about $8.5 million in an attempt to defeat Proposition 2; most of the contributors were large-scale egg factory farms, but many were farm bureau groups and some were pig producers from throughout the nation.
By a nearly two-to-one margin, the public opted to phase out the confinement systems, believing that the industry has gone too far in treating animals like commodities and has lost sight of its animal welfare responsibilities. I think it's another wake-up call to the industry -- following on the heels of the Hallmark/Westland investigation -- to reform.
To answer the question posed above, we just do not know how widespread problems are in the slaughter industry. But here's what we do know. HSUS investigators looked at six locations -- one slaughter plant and five auctions. We found problems at every location. Lighting may strike once or twice, but not six times. There's a major problem here, and that's what we reported. USDA's Office of Inspector General also found major problems when it looked at slaughter plants in a January 2006 report. And other animal welfare groups have found problems at a wide variety of slaughter plants -- from Agriprocessors in Iowa to Pilgrim's Pride in West Virginia. A worker was just charged with criminal cruelty at a major hog factory farm investigated by PETA in North Carolina. The industry needs to address these problems head-on and not dismiss them as rogue actors or isolated incidents, yet that is how some trade associations continue to frame the issue.
Hallmark/Westland was chosen at random. Our investigator was attempting to investigate a different location in California, but did not get hired by the facility, so instead he applied at Hallmark, got a job, and worked there and documented terrible, routine abuses, even though USDA had five inspectors at the plant. The treatment of the animals was unconscionable, yet this plant was recognized as recently as 2005 by the Agricultural Marketing Service as the "Supplier of the Year." The plant workers and management were to blame, but so was the USDA, whose inspectors allowed this mistreatment to continue day after day. The USDA's failures call into question the effectiveness of its oversight and enforcement program. If this can occur at a "Supplier of the Year," what must be happening at the thousands of other plants?
The first four auctions we looked at were also selected at random -- a sampling of places in four different states. The final one, Portales, was selected specifically because our investigator at Hallmark said that many of the cows sent there had come from Portales. The industry shouldn't tolerate this mistreatment of animals anywhere, and it is more than distressing to see these problems at every location we examined.
I'd like to say that if we conducted six additional investigations that we'd find no major problems. But based on our experience, I'd not expect that outcome. As the old saying goes, past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.”
Rosemary Mucklow: “The incidents at the slaughter facility documented by HSUS were exceptional, and were universally condemned by the industry.
Those responsible have paid a very heavy price – the individual employees have been prosecuted, the company is out of business, and its customers have suffered enormous financial losses.
Can there be better evidence that it is in the self-interest of the meat industry to maintain humane handling standards? Not only is humane handling of livestock the law, it is good business and clearly the right thing to do.
For many years the industry has voluntarily developed best practices, improved facility designs for movement of livestock and executed focused training programs to assure proper animal handling. The meat industry is very aware of the importance of handling livestock humanely and has, through ongoing efforts, met the standard.
However, even isolated incidents are unacceptable. Accordingly, in response to the HSUS reports the livestock and meat industry associations, as well as associations representing marketing and transportation entities, have thoroughly reviewed the many means of guidance on animal handling. Best practices, training materials and operational oversight have all been closely scrutinized and, where appropriate, modified and enhanced for maximum effectiveness. These actions are all part of the industry’s commitment to continuous improvement.
Furthermore, the U.S. regulatory system sets parameters for acceptable behavior. And there are checks and balances to ensure these parameters are met.
It was unfortunate that HSUS chose to delay for several months reporting their observations to USDA and other authorities thereby delaying corrective actions. I encourage HSUS or any other organization that truly wants to have a positive impact on the humane handling of livestock to promptly convey their observations and concerns to the proper authorities.”
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Talking about…Corn, E. coli, NR’s, Importing Mad Cows, Best-tasting cattle breed, Agriprocessor justice
"It's as if the June flooding didn't even happen. The entire rally in corn has been taken off."
(Source: Associated Press, July 21, 2008)
Vic Lespinasse of Grainanalyst.com talking about the surprising drop in corn prices.
>PS: Good news for animal ag – corn is down about 20 percent in the last month.
>PPS: Ideal growing weather in the U.S. Corn Belt après flood and a big drop in oil prices last week make for semi-reasonable feed prices.
"When you find yourself in a hole, you have to quit digging. And we are in a hole."
(Source: International Herald Tribune, July 22, 2008)
Rick Perry (R), Texas Governor, talking about his no holds barred push to overturn the ethanol lobby in favor of the cattle lobby.
>PS: He thinks we can feed our cars or our cattle, not both.
"After changes in meat regulation dropped recall amounts from 23 million pounds in 2002 to only 181,900 pounds in 2006, 39 million pounds of E. coli tainted meat has been recalled since the spring of 2007. The numbers have just shot up in the last year, and so have illnesses. If this was a serial killer -- which, actually, it is -- every resource in this country would have been mobilized against it. Nothing less is acceptable."
(Source: Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 21, 2008)
William Marler, noted E. coli attorney, talking about a Georgia lawsuit stemming from the E. coli outbreak linked to seven states.
>PS: The lawsuit is based on an allegedly E. coli tainted meal eaten at a barbecue joint! Any ‘cue joint that doesn’t cook its meat well and long enough to kill E. coli deserves to be put out of business.
"Consumers should know the record of the company responsible for any meat they purchase. We've paid for the inspections -- we're owed that much, at least."
(Source: Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 25, 2008)
William Marler, again, urging that NR’s ne as readily available as those restaurant inspection notices that have to be posted on the front door in many cities.
POINT MADE:
"APHIS does not adequately track live animal imports and, if problems are detected, does not collectively analyze import violations. Additional controls are needed at northern ports-of-entry to obtain stronger assurance that all animal shipments are inspected."
Report by the USDA’s Inspector General saying the Department of Agriculture failed to properly track hundreds of Canadian cattle coming into the United States, the department's inspector general has concluded
POINT TAKEN:
"We know that Canada has an ongoing disease problem. These rules that recently relaxed our import restrictions should be reversed until the agency can demonstrate that it has the capacity and the will to carry out its congressional mandate to protect consumers and the cattle producers against the introduction of disease."
Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA Chief Executive, claiming the audit proves the USDA can't regulate the cross-border cattle trade.
(Source: Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2008)
POINT TAKEN II:
“The inspector general may not be able to say whether there is a systemic problem, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that there is one – and it seems to exist at USDA, which rarely seems to do anything to prove that it has its act together regarding mad cow disease.
The USDA response to mad cow problems always seems to have been to say “it is a Canadian issue,” but now we find out that it isn’t even doing a good job tracking Canadian cattle coming into the US.
Something has to give here. And I’m beginning to wonder what it is going to take to force the kind of real and profound change that is needed in the US food safety apparatus.”
(Source: MorningNews, July 24, 2008)
Kevin Coupe, MorningNews editor/commentator, talking about the impact of the Inspector general’s report.
>PS: It does seem that the various pieces and parts of the USDA are dazed and confused as they stumble over each other, trying to find the politically correct path in these increasingly uncertain political times.
"We have to eat them to save them. When we eat them, we're giving farmers an economic reason to conserve rare breeds and the important genetic diversity they represent."
(Source: American Agriculturist, July 24, 2008)
Sandy Lerner, talking about the reasons behind a gourmet tasting of beef from 10 different breeds hosted by a partnership of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food USA and Ayrshire Farm.
>PS: Want to know the runaway best tasting breed? Click on Lerner’s name.
"This looks and feels like a cattle auction, not a criminal prosecution in the United States."
(Source: Associated Press, July 25, 2008)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), former immigration lawyer and chair of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, talking about the legality of the Agriprocessors raid during a hearing last Thursday.
>PS: Running the defendants through court 10 at a time sounds like assembly line, pre-determined justice to me.
“My work was very hard, because they didn’t give me my breaks, and I wasn’t getting very much sleep. They told us they were going to call immigration if we complained.”
(Source: New York Times, July 27, 2008)
Elmer L., an illegal, underage immigrant/Agriprocessor employee who claims he regularly worked 17 hours a day and was paid $7.25 an hour and often had to forgo overtime pay.
>PS: Really interested in ‘protecting our border”? Go after the bosses, not the bottom tier.
(Source: Associated Press, July 21, 2008)
Vic Lespinasse of Grainanalyst.com talking about the surprising drop in corn prices.
>PS: Good news for animal ag – corn is down about 20 percent in the last month.
>PPS: Ideal growing weather in the U.S. Corn Belt après flood and a big drop in oil prices last week make for semi-reasonable feed prices.
"When you find yourself in a hole, you have to quit digging. And we are in a hole."
(Source: International Herald Tribune, July 22, 2008)
Rick Perry (R), Texas Governor, talking about his no holds barred push to overturn the ethanol lobby in favor of the cattle lobby.
>PS: He thinks we can feed our cars or our cattle, not both.
"After changes in meat regulation dropped recall amounts from 23 million pounds in 2002 to only 181,900 pounds in 2006, 39 million pounds of E. coli tainted meat has been recalled since the spring of 2007. The numbers have just shot up in the last year, and so have illnesses. If this was a serial killer -- which, actually, it is -- every resource in this country would have been mobilized against it. Nothing less is acceptable."
(Source: Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 21, 2008)
William Marler, noted E. coli attorney, talking about a Georgia lawsuit stemming from the E. coli outbreak linked to seven states.
>PS: The lawsuit is based on an allegedly E. coli tainted meal eaten at a barbecue joint! Any ‘cue joint that doesn’t cook its meat well and long enough to kill E. coli deserves to be put out of business.
"Consumers should know the record of the company responsible for any meat they purchase. We've paid for the inspections -- we're owed that much, at least."
(Source: Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 25, 2008)
William Marler, again, urging that NR’s ne as readily available as those restaurant inspection notices that have to be posted on the front door in many cities.
POINT MADE:
"APHIS does not adequately track live animal imports and, if problems are detected, does not collectively analyze import violations. Additional controls are needed at northern ports-of-entry to obtain stronger assurance that all animal shipments are inspected."
Report by the USDA’s Inspector General saying the Department of Agriculture failed to properly track hundreds of Canadian cattle coming into the United States, the department's inspector general has concluded
POINT TAKEN:
"We know that Canada has an ongoing disease problem. These rules that recently relaxed our import restrictions should be reversed until the agency can demonstrate that it has the capacity and the will to carry out its congressional mandate to protect consumers and the cattle producers against the introduction of disease."
Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA Chief Executive, claiming the audit proves the USDA can't regulate the cross-border cattle trade.
(Source: Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2008)
POINT TAKEN II:
“The inspector general may not be able to say whether there is a systemic problem, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that there is one – and it seems to exist at USDA, which rarely seems to do anything to prove that it has its act together regarding mad cow disease.
The USDA response to mad cow problems always seems to have been to say “it is a Canadian issue,” but now we find out that it isn’t even doing a good job tracking Canadian cattle coming into the US.
Something has to give here. And I’m beginning to wonder what it is going to take to force the kind of real and profound change that is needed in the US food safety apparatus.”
(Source: MorningNews, July 24, 2008)
Kevin Coupe, MorningNews editor/commentator, talking about the impact of the Inspector general’s report.
>PS: It does seem that the various pieces and parts of the USDA are dazed and confused as they stumble over each other, trying to find the politically correct path in these increasingly uncertain political times.
"We have to eat them to save them. When we eat them, we're giving farmers an economic reason to conserve rare breeds and the important genetic diversity they represent."
(Source: American Agriculturist, July 24, 2008)
Sandy Lerner, talking about the reasons behind a gourmet tasting of beef from 10 different breeds hosted by a partnership of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food USA and Ayrshire Farm.
>PS: Want to know the runaway best tasting breed? Click on Lerner’s name.
"This looks and feels like a cattle auction, not a criminal prosecution in the United States."
(Source: Associated Press, July 25, 2008)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), former immigration lawyer and chair of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, talking about the legality of the Agriprocessors raid during a hearing last Thursday.
>PS: Running the defendants through court 10 at a time sounds like assembly line, pre-determined justice to me.
“My work was very hard, because they didn’t give me my breaks, and I wasn’t getting very much sleep. They told us they were going to call immigration if we complained.”
(Source: New York Times, July 27, 2008)
Elmer L., an illegal, underage immigrant/Agriprocessor employee who claims he regularly worked 17 hours a day and was paid $7.25 an hour and often had to forgo overtime pay.
>PS: Really interested in ‘protecting our border”? Go after the bosses, not the bottom tier.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Talking about...Corn, Hot dogs, Food inspection, JBS bank
"We're hemorrhaging. Whether it's beef, pork, turkey, or chicken, we're hemorrhaging right now. The economics have just turned completely upside down because of corn prices."
(Source: U.S. News & World Report, July 15, 2008)
Daniel Bluntzer, a livestock analyst for Frontier Risk Management, talking about the state of animal agriculture.
“The industry is going to implode. Politicians were in a rush to do something, and it became a terrible snowball.”
(Source: New York Times, July 18, 2008)
Dick Stevens, President, Consolidated Catfish Producers, blaming the government’s ethanol mandates for the impending demise of catfish farming.
>PS: His friend, Keith King of Dillard & Company, says for every dollar spent raising catfish, the return is just 75 cents when they take them to market.
“A girl from PETA called me a while back, asking if we were going to be having the hot dog lunch this year. I asked what office she was calling from, and she kept saying, ‘my office, my office.’ Eventually I said, ‘you’re from PETA, right?’ and she sort of sheepishly said that she was. But she never asked what the date was. I think she got nervous and hung up. You know, the funny thing about it is, every year we’re having this event that is jam-packed, and we are turning people away because hot dogs are so popular. And outside they have to have people in lettuce leaf bikinis trying to entice people to eat their food because everyone prefers hot dogs.”
(Source: Washington City Paper, July 16, 2008)
Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs and professional development for the American Meat Institute, explaining how PETA managed to jump the gun on AMI’s annual Hot Dog Lunch at the Rayburn Building.
>PS: Careful, Janet. PETA just might ramp it up with ladies dressed in less than lettuce leaves.
>PPS: Save me a Kosher dog with mustard and (horrors) ketchup. No faux doggies, please.
>PPPS: To set the record straight, those PETA babes don’t really wear lettuce leaf bikinis. They wear lettuce leaf PRINT bikinis, stitched together from whole cloth, like many of the organization’s claims.
"They're moving towards the U.S. model, where the inspectors don't actually do the inspection, they just oversee and the companies actually do the inspection. That's a really dangerous thing.”
(Source: Edmonton Journal, July 12, 2008)
Michael Hansen, senior scientist with Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, warning about pitfalls in Canada’s plan to turn over food inspection to the food industry.
>PS: I’m a big fan of third party inspection. If you don’t have an iron in the fire, you’re less likely to flinch when the heat rises.
"We created this bank with products and services directed toward cattle breeding. Clients that will have accounts in this bank will need to prove to be a cattle producer."
(Source: Meatingplace, July 18, 2008)
Joesley Batista, JBS President, telling a Meatingplace.com reporter that they plan to back the world’s cattle industry with specialized banking services.
>PS: They’re starting out in Brazil with $18.7 million in starting capital to help Brazilian farmers “develop production of bulls and cows.”
(Source: U.S. News & World Report, July 15, 2008)
Daniel Bluntzer, a livestock analyst for Frontier Risk Management, talking about the state of animal agriculture.
“The industry is going to implode. Politicians were in a rush to do something, and it became a terrible snowball.”
(Source: New York Times, July 18, 2008)
Dick Stevens, President, Consolidated Catfish Producers, blaming the government’s ethanol mandates for the impending demise of catfish farming.
>PS: His friend, Keith King of Dillard & Company, says for every dollar spent raising catfish, the return is just 75 cents when they take them to market.
“A girl from PETA called me a while back, asking if we were going to be having the hot dog lunch this year. I asked what office she was calling from, and she kept saying, ‘my office, my office.’ Eventually I said, ‘you’re from PETA, right?’ and she sort of sheepishly said that she was. But she never asked what the date was. I think she got nervous and hung up. You know, the funny thing about it is, every year we’re having this event that is jam-packed, and we are turning people away because hot dogs are so popular. And outside they have to have people in lettuce leaf bikinis trying to entice people to eat their food because everyone prefers hot dogs.”
(Source: Washington City Paper, July 16, 2008)
Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs and professional development for the American Meat Institute, explaining how PETA managed to jump the gun on AMI’s annual Hot Dog Lunch at the Rayburn Building.
>PS: Careful, Janet. PETA just might ramp it up with ladies dressed in less than lettuce leaves.
>PPS: Save me a Kosher dog with mustard and (horrors) ketchup. No faux doggies, please.
>PPPS: To set the record straight, those PETA babes don’t really wear lettuce leaf bikinis. They wear lettuce leaf PRINT bikinis, stitched together from whole cloth, like many of the organization’s claims.
"They're moving towards the U.S. model, where the inspectors don't actually do the inspection, they just oversee and the companies actually do the inspection. That's a really dangerous thing.”
(Source: Edmonton Journal, July 12, 2008)
Michael Hansen, senior scientist with Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, warning about pitfalls in Canada’s plan to turn over food inspection to the food industry.
>PS: I’m a big fan of third party inspection. If you don’t have an iron in the fire, you’re less likely to flinch when the heat rises.
"We created this bank with products and services directed toward cattle breeding. Clients that will have accounts in this bank will need to prove to be a cattle producer."
(Source: Meatingplace, July 18, 2008)
Joesley Batista, JBS President, telling a Meatingplace.com reporter that they plan to back the world’s cattle industry with specialized banking services.
>PS: They’re starting out in Brazil with $18.7 million in starting capital to help Brazilian farmers “develop production of bulls and cows.”
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
COOL, Smithfield's Chinese Connection, Cattle Feed
"We have this huge growth in imports, this huge growth in trade; at the same time we have severely cut back on our regulatory agencies and their ability to do their job, especially the food portion of the Food and Drug Administration. If they are only checking 1 percent of the stuff and finding lots of problems, then ... there are a lot of problems that are never caught.”
(Source: Dallas Morning News, July 1, 2008)
Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, talking about a critical failure of the food inspection system.
>PS: More American-produced food is recalled because more of it is inspected. Got a problem product? Simply take production off-shore. No problem.
"China is experiencing rapid growth in pork consumption and consumes more pork than the rest of the world combined. COFCO has introduced Smithfield to many opportunities in China and we look forward to continue working together.”
(Source: Forbes, July 2, 2008)
Larry Pope, Smithfield President, announcing that he’s selling almost 5% of his company to COFCO, a Chinese ag company.
>PS: The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming! And Smithfield’s stock drops 12% on the news.
“All these cattle will eat 40 lbs. of feed a day and it went from two cents to nine cents a pound for that feed, that's a big, big difference."
(Source: CBS News, July 2, 2008)
Steve Foglesong of Black Gold Ranch, Illinois, talking about the dramatic increase in the price of feed caused by the increased demand for corn to feed ethanol plants.
>PS: He raises 4,000 head of cattle but he’s planning to cut way back on that number ASAP.
"We demand that you do not reference this fine company in your press conference tomorrow. This is notice that Caviness Packing Co. will hold legally responsible you, your organization and any investigators or other personnel for any damages to its name and reputation caused by any false or misleading statements made about the cattle slaughtered at its official USDA establishment."
(Source: MEAT&POULTRY.COM, July2, 2008)
Rosemary Mucklow, director emeritus, National Meat Association, strongly cautioning HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle about the perils of linking Caviness Packing to the animal handling offenses videotaped at Las Portales during a scheduled press conference.
>PS: In an emailed response, Pacelle said he wouldn’t. A furious Mucklow said he did, anyway.
>PPS: CN published an op-ed piece written by Steve Dittmer taking Pacelle to the wood shed for this one, calling it something like guilt by association. We’ve offered Pacelle equal time. Stay tuned for his response.
“(Caviness has) ceased purchasing from the Portales auction market and did not participate in their last sale and (has) no plans to participate until Portales can show that they’re meeting the same animal handling procedure that they (Caviness) meet in their own business.”
(Source: Clovis News Journal online, July 2, 2008)
Jeremy Russell, NMA Communications Director, affirming the action Caviness took against Portales Livestock Auction.
>PS: Wayne, it’s your turn.
"The products subject to recall may have been produced under ‘insanitary’ conditions."
(Source: Associated Press, July 3, 2008)
Statement by the Food Safety and Inspection Service claiming that Nebraska Beef's production practices were ‘insufficient to effectively control E. coli bacteria.’
>PS: The result? 5.3 million pounds of ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26 recalled and another black eye for the beef business.
>PPS: ‘Insanitary?’ As in insane?
"Then we would be talking about a corn supply crisis that would probably require some type of government intervention."
(Source: Marketwatch, July 4, 2008)
Shawn Hackett, president of agriculture futures brokerage Hackett Financial Advisors, warning of the potential of a major crisis in corn production if bad summer weather manages to push corn to $10.
>PS: Corn futures hit an all-time high of $7.548 on CBOT last week, up 21% for June, 28% higher in the second quarter and surging 60% in the first half of the year.
“If all that carbohydrate could be extracted into ethanol, then we estimate you could get about as much out of an infested field of kudzu as you could from an intensively managed field of corn. The difference is that the field of kudzu is there for the taking, while the field of corn has to be planted and maintained.”
(Source: The Chattanooga Times Free Press, July 6, 2008)
Dr. Rowan Sage, University of Toronto researcher, proposing that kudzu’s starch-filled roots and green leaves are perfect for ethanol production.
>PS: As one who has lived below the Mason-Dixon line for much of my life, I can attest to this: If Dr. Sage is right, South Carolina will become the Saudi Arabia of ethanol production.
(Source: Dallas Morning News, July 1, 2008)
Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, talking about a critical failure of the food inspection system.
>PS: More American-produced food is recalled because more of it is inspected. Got a problem product? Simply take production off-shore. No problem.
"China is experiencing rapid growth in pork consumption and consumes more pork than the rest of the world combined. COFCO has introduced Smithfield to many opportunities in China and we look forward to continue working together.”
(Source: Forbes, July 2, 2008)
Larry Pope, Smithfield President, announcing that he’s selling almost 5% of his company to COFCO, a Chinese ag company.
>PS: The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming! And Smithfield’s stock drops 12% on the news.
“All these cattle will eat 40 lbs. of feed a day and it went from two cents to nine cents a pound for that feed, that's a big, big difference."
(Source: CBS News, July 2, 2008)
Steve Foglesong of Black Gold Ranch, Illinois, talking about the dramatic increase in the price of feed caused by the increased demand for corn to feed ethanol plants.
>PS: He raises 4,000 head of cattle but he’s planning to cut way back on that number ASAP.
"We demand that you do not reference this fine company in your press conference tomorrow. This is notice that Caviness Packing Co. will hold legally responsible you, your organization and any investigators or other personnel for any damages to its name and reputation caused by any false or misleading statements made about the cattle slaughtered at its official USDA establishment."
(Source: MEAT&POULTRY.COM, July2, 2008)
Rosemary Mucklow, director emeritus, National Meat Association, strongly cautioning HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle about the perils of linking Caviness Packing to the animal handling offenses videotaped at Las Portales during a scheduled press conference.
>PS: In an emailed response, Pacelle said he wouldn’t. A furious Mucklow said he did, anyway.
>PPS: CN published an op-ed piece written by Steve Dittmer taking Pacelle to the wood shed for this one, calling it something like guilt by association. We’ve offered Pacelle equal time. Stay tuned for his response.
“(Caviness has) ceased purchasing from the Portales auction market and did not participate in their last sale and (has) no plans to participate until Portales can show that they’re meeting the same animal handling procedure that they (Caviness) meet in their own business.”
(Source: Clovis News Journal online, July 2, 2008)
Jeremy Russell, NMA Communications Director, affirming the action Caviness took against Portales Livestock Auction.
>PS: Wayne, it’s your turn.
"The products subject to recall may have been produced under ‘insanitary’ conditions."
(Source: Associated Press, July 3, 2008)
Statement by the Food Safety and Inspection Service claiming that Nebraska Beef's production practices were ‘insufficient to effectively control E. coli bacteria.’
>PS: The result? 5.3 million pounds of ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26 recalled and another black eye for the beef business.
>PPS: ‘Insanitary?’ As in insane?
"Then we would be talking about a corn supply crisis that would probably require some type of government intervention."
(Source: Marketwatch, July 4, 2008)
Shawn Hackett, president of agriculture futures brokerage Hackett Financial Advisors, warning of the potential of a major crisis in corn production if bad summer weather manages to push corn to $10.
>PS: Corn futures hit an all-time high of $7.548 on CBOT last week, up 21% for June, 28% higher in the second quarter and surging 60% in the first half of the year.
“If all that carbohydrate could be extracted into ethanol, then we estimate you could get about as much out of an infested field of kudzu as you could from an intensively managed field of corn. The difference is that the field of kudzu is there for the taking, while the field of corn has to be planted and maintained.”
(Source: The Chattanooga Times Free Press, July 6, 2008)
Dr. Rowan Sage, University of Toronto researcher, proposing that kudzu’s starch-filled roots and green leaves are perfect for ethanol production.
>PS: As one who has lived below the Mason-Dixon line for much of my life, I can attest to this: If Dr. Sage is right, South Carolina will become the Saudi Arabia of ethanol production.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Talking about…JBS, Animal abuse, Ethanol, Korea, 13 mad cows
"By reducing the number of major buyers for ranchers' cattle from five to three -- and in some regions even one or two -- this deal will give the remaining beef processors enormous buying power. The antitrust laws should not countenance such a dangerous outcome. I therefore urge the Justice Department to bring an antitrust enforcement action to block these acquisitions.”
(Source: New York Times, June 24, 2008)
Herb Kohl, (D-WI), head of the senate’s anti-trust subcommittee, in a letter to the Justice Department’s Thomas Barnett, pointing out the deal would leave just 3 beef packers controlling more than 80% of the market.
>PS: Kohl’s group has influence but no real decision-making power.
>PPS: The subcommittee could require the divesture of Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding LLC, if the deal is approved, though.
“R-CALF USA acknowledges that the JBS proposal would be good for JBS and its shareholders. The problem is that what is good for JBS and its shareholders is not at all good for R-CALF USA and its cattle-producing members. That is why this is a fight and not a negotiation. JBS wants to capture a greater share the U.S. beef market, just as it wants to capture a greater share of the profits from each animal it slaughters, and the proposed merger would help it accomplish both.”
(Source: Cattlenetwork, June 27, 2008)
Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALFUSA, expressing his extreme opposition to the JBS merger.
>PS: Expect this to be an ongoing battle worthy of a WWE Smackdown, a Super bowl brawl reminiscent of the Giants vs the Patriots; it will be a titanic struggle.
“The food-animal production system failed these animals. Everyone involved in animal agriculture, whether on farms or in processing facilities, shares an ethical responsibility to protect the health and welfare of animals used for food production."
(Source: Meatpoultry.com, June 25, 2008)
Dr. Ron DeHaven, ex-APHIS administrator, now CEO of the AVMA, talking about the latest stealth video taken by undercover HSUS agents.
>PS: It was taped in May 2008 at the Portales Livestock Auction. Abuse is serious and critically damaging to the industry. It should be dealt with swiftly – shut down the offending operation. Period.
POINT
"While I have no doubt this mandate was a well-intentioned effort to move our country toward energy independence, it is doing more harm than good and must be modified before our livestock industry suffers permanent damage,"
Rick Perry (R), Texas Governor, leading the following industry heavyweights in a concerted effort to cut the ethanol mandate in half.
POINT
"Cattlemen are now confronting $7 and even $8 corn, and that may just be the beginning. Even before the wet spring pushed into June, we were already seeing a lot of acres migrating away from corn this year. By the time conditions improve in many of these fields, planting corn will no longer be an option."
Gregg Doud, chief economist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
POINT
"The prices for beef, pork and dairy products have risen dramatically over the past few months and this upward trend will continue, as the food used to feed these animals is washed away by flood waters and the projected size of the corn harvest shrinks. Mother Nature is refusing to adhere to Congressional mandates for corn production.”
J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute.
POINT
"However, with the current ethanol mandate diverting one-third of U.S. corn to gas tanks, feed prices have shot higher and higher, making it difficult for the industry to keep high-quality foods reasonably priced."
Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation.
POINT
"We must ensure that we are not forcing our needs on food and fuel to compete against each other. The restaurant industry supports the development of efficient renewable fuels -- including the promotion of the use of recyclable restaurant oil -- while safeguarding against price distortions in the food supply. These prices distortions have harmed our customers and businesses."
John Gay, senior vice president of government affairs and public policy for the National Restaurant Association.
POINT
"At a time when tens of thousands of Americans are turning to food banks to feed their children, no Administration could reasonably conclude that ethanol refiners should be given priority over working families, food companies, and livestock farmers"
Cal Dooley, Grocery Manufacturers Association President and CEO.
"We will start the inspection on Friday morning (June 27), and the first meat that passes the test will be released from the facilities around July 3 or 4."
(Source: New York Times, June 27, 2008)
Lee Byung-kwon, spokesman for Korea’s National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, talking about the availability of American beef.
>PS: Don’t start the party just yet - ‘availability’ doesn’t mean sales. McDonald’s and Outback steak houses have placed newspaper ads declaring they aren’t using American beef and consumer group and massive street protests continue.
"We can tell by the intensive surveillance that the cases are not increasing. If the checks and balances were not working, one would expect (the disease) to become more common over time, and that's not the case."
(Source: Canada.com, June 28, 2008)
George Luterbach, senior veterinarian at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, trying to put the best face possible on the 13th case of mad cow disease found in that country.
>PS: This one was born 5 years after the feed ban indicating there was an incredible amount of suspect feed in Canada’s hoppers.
(Source: New York Times, June 24, 2008)
Herb Kohl, (D-WI), head of the senate’s anti-trust subcommittee, in a letter to the Justice Department’s Thomas Barnett, pointing out the deal would leave just 3 beef packers controlling more than 80% of the market.
>PS: Kohl’s group has influence but no real decision-making power.
>PPS: The subcommittee could require the divesture of Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding LLC, if the deal is approved, though.
“R-CALF USA acknowledges that the JBS proposal would be good for JBS and its shareholders. The problem is that what is good for JBS and its shareholders is not at all good for R-CALF USA and its cattle-producing members. That is why this is a fight and not a negotiation. JBS wants to capture a greater share the U.S. beef market, just as it wants to capture a greater share of the profits from each animal it slaughters, and the proposed merger would help it accomplish both.”
(Source: Cattlenetwork, June 27, 2008)
Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALFUSA, expressing his extreme opposition to the JBS merger.
>PS: Expect this to be an ongoing battle worthy of a WWE Smackdown, a Super bowl brawl reminiscent of the Giants vs the Patriots; it will be a titanic struggle.
“The food-animal production system failed these animals. Everyone involved in animal agriculture, whether on farms or in processing facilities, shares an ethical responsibility to protect the health and welfare of animals used for food production."
(Source: Meatpoultry.com, June 25, 2008)
Dr. Ron DeHaven, ex-APHIS administrator, now CEO of the AVMA, talking about the latest stealth video taken by undercover HSUS agents.
>PS: It was taped in May 2008 at the Portales Livestock Auction. Abuse is serious and critically damaging to the industry. It should be dealt with swiftly – shut down the offending operation. Period.
POINT
"While I have no doubt this mandate was a well-intentioned effort to move our country toward energy independence, it is doing more harm than good and must be modified before our livestock industry suffers permanent damage,"
Rick Perry (R), Texas Governor, leading the following industry heavyweights in a concerted effort to cut the ethanol mandate in half.
POINT
"Cattlemen are now confronting $7 and even $8 corn, and that may just be the beginning. Even before the wet spring pushed into June, we were already seeing a lot of acres migrating away from corn this year. By the time conditions improve in many of these fields, planting corn will no longer be an option."
Gregg Doud, chief economist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
POINT
"The prices for beef, pork and dairy products have risen dramatically over the past few months and this upward trend will continue, as the food used to feed these animals is washed away by flood waters and the projected size of the corn harvest shrinks. Mother Nature is refusing to adhere to Congressional mandates for corn production.”
J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute.
POINT
"However, with the current ethanol mandate diverting one-third of U.S. corn to gas tanks, feed prices have shot higher and higher, making it difficult for the industry to keep high-quality foods reasonably priced."
Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation.
POINT
"We must ensure that we are not forcing our needs on food and fuel to compete against each other. The restaurant industry supports the development of efficient renewable fuels -- including the promotion of the use of recyclable restaurant oil -- while safeguarding against price distortions in the food supply. These prices distortions have harmed our customers and businesses."
John Gay, senior vice president of government affairs and public policy for the National Restaurant Association.
POINT
"At a time when tens of thousands of Americans are turning to food banks to feed their children, no Administration could reasonably conclude that ethanol refiners should be given priority over working families, food companies, and livestock farmers"
Cal Dooley, Grocery Manufacturers Association President and CEO.
"We will start the inspection on Friday morning (June 27), and the first meat that passes the test will be released from the facilities around July 3 or 4."
(Source: New York Times, June 27, 2008)
Lee Byung-kwon, spokesman for Korea’s National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, talking about the availability of American beef.
>PS: Don’t start the party just yet - ‘availability’ doesn’t mean sales. McDonald’s and Outback steak houses have placed newspaper ads declaring they aren’t using American beef and consumer group and massive street protests continue.
"We can tell by the intensive surveillance that the cases are not increasing. If the checks and balances were not working, one would expect (the disease) to become more common over time, and that's not the case."
(Source: Canada.com, June 28, 2008)
George Luterbach, senior veterinarian at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, trying to put the best face possible on the 13th case of mad cow disease found in that country.
>PS: This one was born 5 years after the feed ban indicating there was an incredible amount of suspect feed in Canada’s hoppers.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Talking about Natural meat, Korea, Corn, AgriProcessors, Iowa farmland, Dan Gralian
''In the consumer's mind, there's a connection to better health and to better for the environment and to good corporate citizenship. It's just starting, but I think it's going to be a very powerful movement.''
(Source: New York Times, June 2, 2008)
Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic Inc., telling a reporter that the market for fast food prepared with naturally-raised meat will keep expanding, as more consumers grow increasingly disenchanted with the industrial model of meat production.
>PS: Even more worrisome for big packers; for the first time people actually seem to be willing to pay with cold, hard cash - not just lip-service - for the privilege.
Point:
"Because the public is most concerned about meat from cattle over 30 months old, we have asked the United States not to export that kind. The latest decision is based on a desire to maintain good ties and trust (with the United States) while at the same time reflecting the national interest and wishes of the (Korean) people.”
(Source: Yonhap News, June 3, 2008)
Chung Woon-chun, Korean Agriculture Minister, telling reporters that until the two nations reach an agreement on the age limit of cattle when they are slaughtered for meat to be exported to South Korea, Seoul will not implement its revised sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
>PS: The move effectively allows South Korea to keep its ban on U.S. beef.
Counterpoint:
"The agreement that our two governments reached in April is a good agreement, based on recognizing international science, and there would be no reason for any type of renegotiation."
(Source: ABC Rural – Australia, June 5, 2008))
Sean Spicer from the US Trade Representative's Office, ignoring Chung Woon-chun and a large number of Korean consumers.
>PS: Sean, you’re right, the U.S. position is scientifically valid and let’s hang on to that all the way to the poor house.
"There is no doubt Eastern Canada will need to boost its imports of U.S. corn given the domestic production shortfall, livestock requirements and the need to supplement the growing ethanol sector"
(Source: Manitoba Co-Operator, June 2, 2008)
Ron Frost, manager of AgProfit, a division of the Pike Management Group in Calgary, talking about problems created by an expected dip in corn production.
>PS: Then there is that question about a shortfall in U.S. production, livestock requirements and the need to supplement the growing ethanol sector.
"She's a vegetarian."
(Source: NWI Times, June 5, 2008)
Bill Kurtis, TV icon, newsman, grass-fed cattle rancher and master griller telling a family secret about Donna La Pietra, his better half of 30 years.
>PS: Proving once again that mixed marriages can work.
“We got 21 or 23 inspectors. Every minute the plant is open, there is USDA inspector. We got maybe 30 rabbis. How can we do something which is wrong? If I want to, God forbid! We are ethical people. We don’t do no injustice to nobody, not to a cat.”
(Source: The Jewish Journal, June 4, 2008)
Aaron Rubashkin, owner of Agriprocessors, defending his business against a wagon load of allegations brought on by the ICE raid.
>PS: Poor cat.
“People coming there looking for jobs—they bring ID with a photo, with a number. With the same card the person go to the bank. With the same card he got his credit card. With the same card he bought a car. 19 million illegals here? I don’t bring ‘em here. I pay taxes and the government supposed to control the stuff.”
(Source: The Jewish Journal, June 4, 2008)
Aaron Rubashkin, owner of Agriprocessors, suggesting the real fault lies a bit further upstream.
>PS: Rubashkin expects the feds to do what?
“It’s going on big time. There is considerable interest in what we call ‘owning structure’ — like United States farmland, Argentine farmland, English farmland — wherever the profit picture is improving.”
(Source: New York Times, June 5, 2008)
Brad Cole, president of Cole Partners Asset Management in Chicago, which runs a fund of hedge funds focused on natural resources, talking about a potentially huge run-up on ag resources.
>PS: The price of an acre of good Iowa farmland equaling the outrageous price of a square foot of New York City apartment space? Let’s watch this bubble grow large and burst!
“We believe the problem is much more political than everything else. We have to differentiate between the countries who are really affected by the food crisis and those who are seeing it as an economic opportunity.”
(Source: New York Times, June 5, 2008)
Walter Poveda Ricaurte, agriculture minister of Ecuador, questioning the ethics of the political posturing at this week’s emergency Food Summit conference in Rome on food shortages, climate change and energy.
>PS: This particular Hall of Shame started with U.S. Ag secretary, Ed Schafer, talking about the benefits of biofuels and genetically modified crops, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking for half an hour about how Brazilian biofuels were superior to American ones and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, urging that religion should be injected into food politics.
>PPS: Did anyone speaking from the podium mention feeding the starving millions that were supposed to be the primary reason for this summit?
>PPPS: So here is Tuesday’s lunch menu befitting the moral agenda recognized by the Food Summit delegates:
• Vol au vent with maize and mozzarella
• Pasta with a cream of pumpkin and prawns
• Braised veal slices with cherry tomatoes and basil
• Spinach a la romaine
• Fruit salad with ice cream
“When the Humane Society of the United States released a film they had taken with a hidden camera of a ‘downer’ cow being abused by employees of the Hallmark/Westland packing plant in California, we all said it was deplorable but an ‘isolated’ incident. As it turns out, we were wrong.”
(Source: Elko Daily Free Press, May 23, 2008)
Dan Gralian, President of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association, writing a mea culpa editorial.
>PS: His position? Animal welfare is a critical responsibility for everyone throughout the distribution chain – ranch to harvest - and everyone shares in the guilt when anyone crosses the line.
(Source: New York Times, June 2, 2008)
Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic Inc., telling a reporter that the market for fast food prepared with naturally-raised meat will keep expanding, as more consumers grow increasingly disenchanted with the industrial model of meat production.
>PS: Even more worrisome for big packers; for the first time people actually seem to be willing to pay with cold, hard cash - not just lip-service - for the privilege.
Point:
"Because the public is most concerned about meat from cattle over 30 months old, we have asked the United States not to export that kind. The latest decision is based on a desire to maintain good ties and trust (with the United States) while at the same time reflecting the national interest and wishes of the (Korean) people.”
(Source: Yonhap News, June 3, 2008)
Chung Woon-chun, Korean Agriculture Minister, telling reporters that until the two nations reach an agreement on the age limit of cattle when they are slaughtered for meat to be exported to South Korea, Seoul will not implement its revised sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
>PS: The move effectively allows South Korea to keep its ban on U.S. beef.
Counterpoint:
"The agreement that our two governments reached in April is a good agreement, based on recognizing international science, and there would be no reason for any type of renegotiation."
(Source: ABC Rural – Australia, June 5, 2008))
Sean Spicer from the US Trade Representative's Office, ignoring Chung Woon-chun and a large number of Korean consumers.
>PS: Sean, you’re right, the U.S. position is scientifically valid and let’s hang on to that all the way to the poor house.
"There is no doubt Eastern Canada will need to boost its imports of U.S. corn given the domestic production shortfall, livestock requirements and the need to supplement the growing ethanol sector"
(Source: Manitoba Co-Operator, June 2, 2008)
Ron Frost, manager of AgProfit, a division of the Pike Management Group in Calgary, talking about problems created by an expected dip in corn production.
>PS: Then there is that question about a shortfall in U.S. production, livestock requirements and the need to supplement the growing ethanol sector.
"She's a vegetarian."
(Source: NWI Times, June 5, 2008)
Bill Kurtis, TV icon, newsman, grass-fed cattle rancher and master griller telling a family secret about Donna La Pietra, his better half of 30 years.
>PS: Proving once again that mixed marriages can work.
“We got 21 or 23 inspectors. Every minute the plant is open, there is USDA inspector. We got maybe 30 rabbis. How can we do something which is wrong? If I want to, God forbid! We are ethical people. We don’t do no injustice to nobody, not to a cat.”
(Source: The Jewish Journal, June 4, 2008)
Aaron Rubashkin, owner of Agriprocessors, defending his business against a wagon load of allegations brought on by the ICE raid.
>PS: Poor cat.
“People coming there looking for jobs—they bring ID with a photo, with a number. With the same card the person go to the bank. With the same card he got his credit card. With the same card he bought a car. 19 million illegals here? I don’t bring ‘em here. I pay taxes and the government supposed to control the stuff.”
(Source: The Jewish Journal, June 4, 2008)
Aaron Rubashkin, owner of Agriprocessors, suggesting the real fault lies a bit further upstream.
>PS: Rubashkin expects the feds to do what?
“It’s going on big time. There is considerable interest in what we call ‘owning structure’ — like United States farmland, Argentine farmland, English farmland — wherever the profit picture is improving.”
(Source: New York Times, June 5, 2008)
Brad Cole, president of Cole Partners Asset Management in Chicago, which runs a fund of hedge funds focused on natural resources, talking about a potentially huge run-up on ag resources.
>PS: The price of an acre of good Iowa farmland equaling the outrageous price of a square foot of New York City apartment space? Let’s watch this bubble grow large and burst!
“We believe the problem is much more political than everything else. We have to differentiate between the countries who are really affected by the food crisis and those who are seeing it as an economic opportunity.”
(Source: New York Times, June 5, 2008)
Walter Poveda Ricaurte, agriculture minister of Ecuador, questioning the ethics of the political posturing at this week’s emergency Food Summit conference in Rome on food shortages, climate change and energy.
>PS: This particular Hall of Shame started with U.S. Ag secretary, Ed Schafer, talking about the benefits of biofuels and genetically modified crops, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking for half an hour about how Brazilian biofuels were superior to American ones and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, urging that religion should be injected into food politics.
>PPS: Did anyone speaking from the podium mention feeding the starving millions that were supposed to be the primary reason for this summit?
>PPPS: So here is Tuesday’s lunch menu befitting the moral agenda recognized by the Food Summit delegates:
• Vol au vent with maize and mozzarella
• Pasta with a cream of pumpkin and prawns
• Braised veal slices with cherry tomatoes and basil
• Spinach a la romaine
• Fruit salad with ice cream
“When the Humane Society of the United States released a film they had taken with a hidden camera of a ‘downer’ cow being abused by employees of the Hallmark/Westland packing plant in California, we all said it was deplorable but an ‘isolated’ incident. As it turns out, we were wrong.”
(Source: Elko Daily Free Press, May 23, 2008)
Dan Gralian, President of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association, writing a mea culpa editorial.
>PS: His position? Animal welfare is a critical responsibility for everyone throughout the distribution chain – ranch to harvest - and everyone shares in the guilt when anyone crosses the line.
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