OCA Eyes WTO and Washington D.C. on COOL, TPA and WOTUS

All eyes are on the World Trade Organization, as a ruling on the U.S. Country of Original Labeling (COOL) law is expected in the coming days. This will be the fourth ruling by the WTO and if they are consistent with their previous rulings it will be against the United States. If realized, this will likely lead to retaliation by Canada and Mexico. Once the ruling comes out, Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Executive Vice President Michael Kelsey expects that Congress will begin to move forward to address COOL. He has heard Congress has begun work on language that would repeal mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling. He is just hopeful that Canada and Mexico will give the U.S. a grace period, before they begin to retaliate. If they can hold on, he believes they will give two major customers for U.S. beef some assurances.     


Recently the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released the results from research studies on COOL. Like previous studies, Kelsey said consumers will say they place a value on knowing where their beef comes from, but when they get to the meat case, price is the number one factor in their decision and they don't pay attention to the mandatory government label. USDA's research has also shown COOL has cost the industry more than it has benefited.


"It hits home to the fact that, mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (mCOOL) is not the answer that some would view it to be," Kelsey said. 


OCA also continues to watch as Congress moves forward with Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and the battle over the Clean Water Act proposal known as "Water of the U.S." (WOTUS) is coming to a crossroads.  Click or tap here to read more or to listen to my full interview with Michael Kelsey.

Defense Bill Passes with Endangered Species Act Provisions on Sage Grouse and Prairie Chicken- Courtesy of Frank Lucas 

Language to block the listing of the greater sage grouse passed the House Friday as part of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association applaud the House for working to prevent an arbitrary listing that would have significant negative impacts on the West.


"Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat conservation go hand-in-hand, and ranchers have historically proven themselves to be the best stewards of the land," said Brenda Richards, PLC president and NCBA member. "If sage grouse are designated for protection under the ESA, many ranchers may no longer be permitted to allow livestock to graze on or near sage grouse habitat, habitat which spans across 11 western states and encompasses 186 million acres of both federal and private land. This decision would not only destroy the ranching industry in the west, which is the backbone of many rural communities, it would also halt the conservation efforts currently underway by ranchers."


An amendment offered by Congressman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) addressing the Lesser Prairie Chicken was also included in the bill. The Lesser Prairie Chicken, which habitat spans across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado was listed as threatened last year by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The language included in the bill would reverse and prohibit the listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken as threatened and endangered until 2021. After 2021, the Lesser Prairie Chicken could not be listed unless the Secretary of Interior determines that the goals in the range-wide management plan are not being met.  

Click here to read more about the National Defense Authorization Act.   

Tight Supplies, Strong Dollar Continues to Impact Beef Exports

Beef exports are showing some improvement since the beginning of the year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released their latest numbers for the month of March. Exports numbers in March exceeded January and February, but remain lower than a year ago. Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel said total exports for March were down 6.6 percent and down 9.8 percent for the year. But there is some encouraging news within the report.


U.S. beef exports to Japan, the nation's largest customer, are higher than last year. Peel said U.S. beef exports in March were 9.1 percent higher and one percent higher for the first three months of the year. He said exports to South Korea were 4.7 percent higher in March and down about two percent for the year-to-date. Exports to Mexico and Hong Kong were down significantly, but overall beef exports were holding their levels.


"When you look at the total picture, exports are holding pretty well given the price levels we're at and given the strength in the dollar we've had, which makes our beef even more expensive to our foreign customers," Peel said.  


I featured Peel on the Beef Buzz as heard on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network. Click or tap here to listen to this edition of the Beef Buzz.  

USDA Announces Funding to Assist with Organic Certification Costs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced this past week that approximately $11.9 million in organic certification assistance is available through state departments of agriculture to make organic certification more affordable for organic producers and handlers across the country.


"The organic industry saw record growth in 2014, accounting for over $39 billion in retail sales in the United States," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "The organic certification cost share programs help more organic businesses succeed and take advantage of economic opportunities in this growing market."


The funding is provided on a cost share basis and certification assistance is distributed by two programs. Through the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program, $11 million is available to organic farms and businesses nationwide. Through the Agricultural Management Assistance Organic Certification Cost Share Program (AMA), an additional $900,000 is available to organic producers (crop and livestock operators only) in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

 

Funded by the 2014 Farm Bill, these programs provide cost share assistance to USDA certified organic producers and handlers, covering as much as 75 percent of an individual applicant's certification costs, up to a maximum of $750 annually per certification scope.  Click here to read more.   

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains-  Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

Resolution Recognizing Locally-Led Soil and Water Conservation Passes Senate

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) is praising the Senate's passage of a bipartisan, concurrent resolution recognizing the value of locally-led soil and water conservation and the role of conservation districts within those efforts across the nation. S. Con. Res. 10, sponsored by Agriculture Committee members Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and John Boozman (R-AR), was agreed to yesterday by Unanimous Consent.


"In passing the conservation resolution, the members of the Senate have made a strong public recognition of the importance of locally-led natural resource conservation, and its critical value to our nation's economic and food security," said NACD President Lee McDaniel. "We are now calling on the House to do the same."


A companion resolution in the House, H.Con.Res.30, was introduced by the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee's Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA-5). The original cosponsors include Representatives Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM-1), Gregg Harper (R-MS-3) and Walter Jones (R-NC-3). It is currently pending floor action.


 Click here to read more about this resolution supported by conservation and agriculture groups.

Op-Ed in Washington Post on Chipolte and Whole Foods- "Doing Real Social Harm" with GMO Rhetoric

Michael Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice a week in the Washington Post- and he used one of his appearances this past week to take a shot at Chipolte and Whole Foods for their badmouthing of GMOs.   

Gerson seems to think that Chipolte has to know they are marketing with an anti science attitude. He writes "This milestone in the history of fast-food scruples (and of advertising) is also a noteworthy cultural development: the systematic incorporation of anti-scientific attitudes into corporate branding strategies. There is no credible evidence that ingesting a plant that has been swiftly genetically modified in a lab has a different health outcome than ingesting a plant that has been slowly genetically modified through selective breeding. The National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the World Health Organization have concluded that GMOs are safe to eat."

He also  takes on Whole Foods and their drive to get every item in their stories labeled with or without GMOs.  "Whole Foods promises "full GMO transparency" by 2018. Its Web site emphasizes "your right to know." But you will search the site in vain for any explanation of how or why GMOs are harmful, because an actual assertion would not withstand scrutiny. Evidently your right to know does not include serious scientific arguments. Chipotle co-chief executive Steve Ells set out his rationale this way: "They say these ingredients are safe, but I think we all know we'd rather have food that doesn't contain them."

You can read more of Gerson's Op-Ed by clicking here- his bottom line is that Chipolte and Whole Foods are doing real social harm and that they are engaged in "an advertising and branding effort that is an act of corporate irresponsibility. "