Beef Industry Recovering, Johanns Says
Dec. 21st, 2005 by adminBy LIBBY QUAID, AP Food and Farm Writer
Associated Press Financial Wire
December 21, 2005
Excerpt…
WASHINGTON – The beef industry is finally recovering from the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States two years ago and can expect a growing number of foreign customers, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Wednesday.
A major trading partner, South Korea, may soon end its embargo on U.S. beef, Johanns said. Japan lifted its ban last week, reopening a market that had been the most lucrative for U.S. cattle producers and meat processors.
“Certainly the pattern now is in the right direction, with Japan’s decision. We’ve restored the vast percentage of trade in beef,” Johanns said in an interview with The Associated Press.
At the same time, officials anticipate scaling back the higher level of testing for mad cow disease. Officials had increased testing from about 55 to 1,000 daily after the first case of mad cow disease two years ago,
“It was not a food safety initiative at all _ it was an attempt to get an idea of the condition of our herd,” Johanns told the AP.
Authorities have now tested 556,143 animals and turned up a second case in a Texas-born cow in June. The number tested is about 1 percent of the 45 million adult cows in the United States.
Originally intended to last until this month, the expanded testing won’t be scaled back today or tomorrow, Johanns said.
“But certainly sometime after the first of the year, we’ll really start to engage in what that future testing regimen should be like,” he said.
Johanns, a former Nebraska governor, ended the year on a high note. When he took office on Jan. 21, ending a Japanese embargo on U.S. beef was Johanns’ top priority. The first American shipments of beef arrived last week in Japan, which was worth $1.4 billion to the U.S. industry in 2003.
South Korea, worth about $815 million in 2003, appears close to ending its embargo…
…Johanns said the swift resumption of shipments to Japan makes a strong case for the department’s plan to have a nationwide system of tracking livestock movements.
Officials want the ability to pinpoint the movements of cows, chickens and pigs within 48 hours and have said they would let the industry run the animal identification program.
“Those that are able to trace and verify and identify their animals were able to get into the Japan market overnight,” Johanns said.
Trade issues will dominate Johanns’ agenda in the coming year. The secretary returned Monday from World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong, where agriculture played a central role. There was no agreement on a broad framework for reducing subsidies, but Johanns said there is still plenty of time in 2006 to reach a global deal.
In the meantime, Congress will be preparing to write a new farm bill, which provides for the subsidies at issue in the trade talks. The department held 52 forums nationwide on the farm bill _ 22 by Johanns himself _ and will use the input from farmers to assemble ideas for the legislation.
“Anyone who ignores trade is jeopardizing 27 percent of the receipts for farmers and ranchers,” Johanns said. “So the WTO process is definitely something we pay attention to.”
Johanns also said the government needs billions of dollars from Congress to better prepare for the possibility of a bird flu outbreak. The is considering $3.8 billion for bird flu preparedness in a defense bill passed by the House early Monday; agriculture plays a small but crucial role in protecting poultry flocks, and Johanns’ agency would get nearly $100 million of the money.
The Agriculture Department already is conducting surveillance and has a vaccination program. But that is “probably not to the extent we could do, that’s for sure, with the additional funding,” Johanns said.
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Agriculture Department: http://www.usda.gov
