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.