Allowing of beef imports draws skeptics

SIKESTON -- Despite agriculture officials' confidence about their plans to allow Canadian beef into the United States next month, many cattle producers remain skeptical.

Vince Draper of Benton is one cattle producer who said he doesn't understand the rush by the United States Department of Agriculture to reopen the Canadian border, especially since two new cases of mad cow disease were discovered in Canada last month.

"I think it's a little bit odd. We could cost (ourselves) $1 billion in export business," Draper said, about the possibility of the disease being detected in the United States again.

Agriculture officials plan to allow imports of live cattle under 30 months of age beginning March 7. As of Feb. 9, the government ruled to delay the import of live or boxed beef 30 months of age and older.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is thought to pose less of a risk to younger animals. A form of BSE can infect humans who eat contaminated meat.

When mad cow disease was detected in the United States in December 2003, American beef was closed off to many overseas markets. Draper pointed out since then imports have gone up 80 percent and exports are have dropped 70 percent in the United States.

"The United States tries to be the most fair trading partner out of all of them, and yet we have a $60 billion a month trade deficit," Draper said. "I think we're too lenient on imports and not stringent enough on export items."

The Missouri Cattlemen's Association has been working with Congress and Missouri's representatives and senators on the issue of Canadian beef imports.

"We believe there should not be expanded trade with live cattle until we have opened our export market, especially with Japan," said Brent Bryant, executive vice president of Missouri Cattlemen's Association.

"On the science portion of it, we want to make sure Canada is adhering to its feed ban and all of the firewalls to prevent BSE," Bryant said.

Roger Eakins, area livestock specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, said recently a fact-finding team went to Canada, evaluated its BSE protection system and identified its safeguards as exceptional.

"They found it was pretty good and everything seems to be better than they said it was," Eakins said.

Canada only has as many cows as the state of Missouri, which has 2.2 million cows, Eakins said. It's not like the United States is opening up to a country that has more cows, he said.

"Even if something would happen, it's not going to be quite as bad as people thought it would and when you look at it, it can't really hurt us as much as you think," Eakins said.

In addition to the safety aspect of allowing Canadian beef into the United States, farmers are also worried about the market taking a nosedive, Eakins said. "And it probably will go down a little bit," Eakins said.

The Missouri Cattlemen's Association and the National Cattlemen's Association are both making sure that it doesn't cause economic harm to American cattle producers, Bryant said.

"We want to protect our producers from overloading the market of feeder cattle under 30 months of age," Bryant said. "We would also like to set a date and a certain agreement with Japan and Mexico."

Eakins pointed out Japan is a leading importer of U.S. beef.

"If we can get that open then we can work to resolve other problems," Eakins said.

Draper noted the Country-of-Origin Labeling program will play a role in the beef industry's future.

And Eakins said the state's first steps of implementing a state animal identification program will ultimately lead to the national animal identification program.

With an ID system, other countries and corporations like Wal-Mart will know where the beef came from and their ages, Eakins said. If the United States is open to Japan, it will have to guarantee the cattle's age of less than 21 months old.

"And a way to do that is to get an animal ID program so we can trace the meat," Eakins said.

Not only will it ease the worries of other countries, but many are more likely to pay $10 more a head if they know this information, Eakins said.

National cattle breeder Paul "Butch" Meier of Jackson agreed there's a concern for U.S. producers and definitely thinks the United States should be screening the cattle and taking the safety measures necessary.

Meier said: "Our food is the safest, and beef is one of the safer things in the United States. It's constantly checked from the gate to the plate and we sure enough want to stay on top of it and guard against any change of it coming into the beef industry."