Welcome to the Friday edition of the HOT BARN REPORT
Heard ONLY on American radio stations across the nation and online at hotbarnreport.com!
Karina Jones, Field Director for R-Calf USA joins us each Friday from her ranch in the heart of Nebraska covering what’s new and important to the family farm and ranch.
It is time to bring you up to speed on the Brazilian beef banter in Washington D.C. Thanks for tuning in to this Friday edition of Hot Barn Report.
In recent news and to no surprise the Brazilian bad actors have been lax and not really forth coming with informing their global market about their cases of BSE, also known as mad cow disease.
We quickly saw all of the national cattle producer organizations calling of the immediate halt of importing beef from Brazil.
Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT), the powerful chair of the House Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to immediately suspend all imports of beef from Brazil after the country failed to promptly report cases of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy earlier this summer.
Then Senator Jon Tester from MT introduced a bill calling for the halt of Brazilian beef imports. I am a little upset that this common sense legislation has not been supported by any of our other cattle producing state’s senators. So you might want to let your Senators know about that.
And talk about unreal! The USDA has come out swinging, only it doesn’t seem like they are our team! USDA is defending Brazilian imports and it doesn’t appear that they plan on halting Brazilian beef any time soon.
But, the plot thickens, yesterday a bi-partisan letter spearheaded by Senator John Thune (SD) and Ben Ray Lujan (NM) addressed to the USDA calls for the immediate suspension of fresh beef imports from Brazil. This letter was signed by Senators Barrasso, Lummis, Booker, Cramer, Hoeven, Tester, Daines, Fisher, Marshall, Rounds, Klobuchar, Smith (MN), and Warnock.
According to US News, “The United States imported $62.3 million of beef and beef products from Brazil in the first nine months of this year, a 36% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to U.S. Census Bureau trade data. In total volume, Brazil was the second-largest U.S. supplier of beef and beef product imports during that period, behind Mexico.”
So yeah, this is kinda a big deal!
This entire situation has only shine a huge magnifying glass on the need for Mandatory Country of origin labeling on beef. Word out of DC is that MCOOL is indeed a hot topic and more Senators are inquiring about it. So keep lighting up that capital switchboard at 202-224-3121 to and urging your Senators to sign on to the American Beef Labeling Act. S.2716.
Tune in on Monday when Hot Barn Report ring leader Monte James will be detailing all the action at the best barns in the nation that power this program. Presho Livestock, Crawford Livestock Market, Platte Livestock, Lemmon Livestock, Stockman’s Livestock, Bassett Livestock, North Platte Stockyards and Mobridge Livestock. Never miss an episode of Hot Barn Report. Tune in to the Your Ag Network app or website.
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