NCBA, USDA, AMI Just Don't Get It

[Oldtimer]

I received this article today in an e-mail- Very well written- Pretty well sums up a lot of what we have been discussing- Highlighting is mine...

The CommStock Report - 02/01/06

David Kruse

***On The Cattle***

The media described it as a "heated" discussion. Japanese lawmakers met with ag Sec. Mike Johanns and the confrontation didn't go well. There are 2000 tons of U.S. beef worth $17 mln backed up in the pipeline in Japan, unmarketable, none of the loss insured. The Japanese are not impressed with our HAACP inspection system. In the U.S., we have a law that says that in order to import meat into the U.S., the foreign inspection systems must equal ours. The USDA doesn't follow the law, but that's what it is. Japan has a tighter inspection system and higher safety standards than we do, but was willing to concede to BSE untested beef and USDA inspection until the USDA blunder. The lead Japanese lawmaker said he would take back a message of "caution" over U.S. beef to Japan. I think that ticked Johanns off.

The Japanese leaders demanded a national ID program and 100% BSE testing of cattle for beef exports to Japan. Johanns responded with the AMI's time worn rebuttal, "It is just something that we've looked at, we've discussed, we've debated over and over again, and it's not justified by science." We know that based upon U.S. science, 100% testing is not justified. So what!!! If the customer wants a purple cow, is willing to provide or pay for the paint and give you a premium price for the purple cow, you paint the #$&*!^%$# cow purple if you want to sell it. @#$%^^%$@! paint a rising sun on its hide if that's what the Japanese want.

Johanns can take BSE science and stick it under the cow's tail up to his armpit. That's what it's worth if it costs you the sale. Johanns has run all the defense for U.S. packers that is called for. Way beyond enough. The bottom line is do we want this business or do we blow it off, standing on stupid principles? Even if the Japanese government tomorrow said, "Okay, we give up, bring all the beef you want and try to sell it here," Japanese consumers wouldn't buy it.

The NCBA, USDA, AMI and Johanns just don't get it. They seem to think they are dealing with the Japanese government when it’s the Japanese consumer who buys or doesn't buy beef. Creekstone, Harris Ranch, even the Iowa Quality Beef Supply Coop were strategically set up to deliver ID'd BSE tested beef, exactly what the Japanese asked for. Major packers wouldn't allow it. Didn't want the competition. Ag Sec. Mike Johanns should be careful of his back for all the weight of the water he's carrying for major packers. Producers have been ready to do their part. They'd ID cattle for Japan and feed them to Japanese taste. Packers like Creekstone and Harris Ranch would have tested cattle at Japanese expense and let the Japanese inspect the process, exceeding HACCP. The road was paved but the USDA blocked it. They sat down in the middle and refused to move; getting more stubbornly stupid about it. The beef industry tells the world how it’s future rides on filling consumer demand, but it tells Japanese consumers they are ignorant and refuse to sell them the beef they want.

In Iowa, the GOP hierarchy refuses to support an E-10 mandate in gasoline, arguing personal choice. The GOP USDA refuses consumer requests, only selling beef the way they want to sell it, no choice offered. GOP philosophy or choice is obviously selective and driven by whichever special interest writes out campaign donations, petroleum distributors in IA and beef packers in Washington. House Ag Committee Chairperson Bob Goodlatte's threat to slap economic sanctions on Japan for closing its market over the USDA's blunder shows how ill-suited and uninformed he is for the job. When you tell your customer you are going to beat them up if they don’t buy your product, you won't have a satisfied customer. This is not a trade dispute as much as Washington wants to make it one. It's about sellers and consumers with the seller, the USDA, refusing to sell the consumer the product he wants.

We've not had two back to back lower cash market weeks for a long time, but from the looks of scattered sales that have taken place so far this week, that's about to change. Beef demand doesn't support higher cash cattle prices. Beef demand is under severe pressure from enormous pork and poultry supply. No one knows for sure how to gage downside potential when standing on the top of the cattle cycle. Competitive meats, larger cattle numbers, shifting supply leverage to packers this spring/summer, without significant export markets and with the Canadian feeding industry getting all cranked up, could take prices a lot lower than where cattle futures are trading.

 

[Oldtimer]

Heres another author that seems to believe that the USDA, NCBA, AMI, and the US Congress don't understand the Japanese people.....Will cattle producers again be penalized by the thinking of the Big Packers and their bought out stooges at USDA and NCBA-How many years will this ban last?

Creekstone and others could have been sending tested, source verified beef to Japan 2 years ago- except that would have competed against the Tyson/Cargils that control the USDA and NCBA... Thank you USDA- Thank you NCBA ;-) :( :mad:



2/2/2006 9:26:00 AM


Jolley: Goodlatte Misreads The Politics Of Beef In Japan



House Ag Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) emerged from an unsatisfactory meeting with Japanese opposition party members hinting at dramatic trade sanctions against Japan unless the market is reopened to U.S. beef.



Goodlatte, using the diplomatic equivalent of a baseball bat, compared the situation to trade in car parts. “Closing their market over a few boxes of veal,” he said, “would be like the United States closing its market to Japanese automobiles because we find some defective brakes, defective steering columns, other defective things."



Later in the day, Goodlatte corked the bat and swung for the fences when he said that Japan will face "a very dramatic response" unless it quickly ends its beef ban. He said, "Our constituents are losing patience and Congress is losing patience. It is becoming more and more difficult to justify keeping our markets open when our producers don't enjoy the same benefits with other countries."




To demonstrate how much he’s misread Japanese popular opinion, here’s an editorial that appeared today in the Asahi Shimbun, Japan ’s equivalent of the New York Times. Pay particular attention to the last paragraph. It indicates that Goodlatte’s threats will be the diplomatic equivalent of a called third strike.


Consumer anxiety about the safety of U.S. beef has been further heightened by the revelation that the government reneged on its promise to send inspectors to beef processing facilities in the United States before resuming imports last December.



In response to an inquiry by a Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) legislator, the Cabinet issued a statement last November to the effect that inspectors would be sent to the United States "before and after the resumption of U.S. beef imports." However, inspectors were dispatched only once and that occurred after imports had resumed.



Shoichi Nakagawa, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, apologized during a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Monday for failing to comply with the Cabinet directive. However, later that day, Nakagawa changed his tune.



"The U.S. beef processing facilities in question were approved by the U.S. government," Nakagawa said, adding that "responsibility lay with the U.S. government and our inspectors were not in a position to pass judgment until after imports had resumed." The farm minister was at pains to point out that this did not actually constitute a case of failing to comply with a Cabinet directive.



But it is ridiculous to blame this sorry state of affairs on a simple error in how the Cabinet statement was written. The fact that the government flip-flopped in explaining what transpired only attests to the gravity of the problem. The government now is surely paying the price for having rushed into resuming U.S. beef imports before making sufficient efforts to earn the trust of consumers.



As for U.S. authorities, they were unbelievably sloppy. Despite Washington's repeated assurances of food safety, risky beef parts such as the spinal column that are considered at high risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) were found in a Japan-bound shipment of U.S. beef imports only one month after it was resumed. Consumers must have felt that their fear came true. In our opinion, Americans at large are not as concerned as Japanese about BSE and food safety in general. We cannot blindly accept Washington 's reassurances of food safety. The Japanese government had to set up the most stringent and meticulous system for monitoring U.S. beef imports.



The day after deciding to resume the imports, the government sent an inspection team to the United States . But the members inspected only 11 of 40 processing facilities on the U.S. list of approved facilities. Furthermore, the facility that shipped the spinal column was approved and added in the list only after Japan 's inspection.



As a rule, Japanese quarantine authorities conduct only sample checks on beef imports. Thus, there is the possibility of tainted parts remaining undetected. Washington will shortly submit a report to Tokyo on the cause of the problem and countermeasures to be taken. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare had planned to study it and lift the new import ban if they believe that the safety of U.S. beef is guaranteed. But that scenario has become less feasible due to the latest revelation.



To clean up the mess created by both Washington and Tokyo , the former must come up with a really convincing report. The previous U.S. beef import ban lasted two years, during which time the U.S. Congress and the administration applied considerable pressure on Tokyo to resume imports in order to protect the livestock industry. Ultimately, it will be Japanese consumers who decide whether to accept American beef. Japan should expand the scope of its inspections of beef processing facilities in the United States , and enforce stricter quarantine. Inspections in the United States ought to be conducted more thoroughly by mixed teams of Japanese and American inspectors, and Tokyo and Washington should share the costs.



The Japanese people's distrust of Washington is compounded by their disapproval of Tokyo 's mishandling of the situation. An early end to the import ban is quite unthinkable right now. Tokyo and Washington must try their hardest to redeem their credibility.



Source:--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 1(IHT/Asahi: February 2, 2006)