Ranchers, after years of taxing themselves to pay for orchestrated marketing, lauded the move announced this week by Tester as being good for the American cattle industry, which has been in a heated battle with meat packers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture about how American beef is labeled in supermarkets.
Tester hopes to force a change in beef marketing through a bill dubbed the Beef Checkoff Modernization Act.
The program has had its critics in cattle country, in part because ranchers have wanted the option of periodically voting on whether to continue the Beef Checkoff. Also, contracts for promotions have been awarded to beef groups in existence when the Checkoff program was first created. Other groups have been created since then and some cattlemen argue that younger beef groups should be considered for Checkoff contracts.
“Senator Tester's bill addresses key provisions of the original Beef Act reflecting the wishes of an overwhelming majority of U.S. cattle producers evidenced in survey after survey,” said Jon Wooster, president of the U.S. Cattlemen's Association. The Beef Research and Information Act is more than 20 years old. USCA recognizes that it is time to modernize the law to fit a rapidly evolving industry.
Not coincidentally, Tuesday was the launch date of the USDA's Country of Origin Labeling program. Commonly referred to as COOL, the program requires producers and retailers to notify customers of the country of origin - including for raw beef, lamb, pork, chicken, goat, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and whole ginseng. Seafood has already been subject to COOL for a few years.
However, for weeks ranchers have said the labeling program is anything but cool, because the USDA is allowing the nation's meat processors to pair Canada and Mexico with the USA label, even when all the meat in the package comes from the United States.
“The congressional intent was to allow for U.S. labeling, and that's not the way it is,” Tester said of the USDA's handling of COOL.
Earlier, Tester wrote Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer asking for a correction in the USDA's interpretation of the labeling law. Schafer responded last Friday, concluding that a U.S.-only label could be used by meat packers on days when only American beef is butchered at a packing plant. With beef imports on the rise, cattlemen say U.S.-only days at packing plants are becoming less likely.
Ranchers gathered at a small Billings feedlot to hear Tester's proposed changes to the Beef Checkoff program seemed to agree that U.S.-only labeling in supermarkets was necessary for “Buy American” advertising to work.
Specifically, Tester's proposal would:
n Require that at least 30 percent of Beef Checkoff money be used to promote U.S. beef. The program currently brings in more than $80 million a year for research and promotions.
n Allow cattle producers to hold a referendum every seven years or sooner if petitioned, to change Beef Checkoff. The first vote would be in 2010. Future program changes, including fee increases, would have to be voted on by referendum and approved by a majority of producers.
n Allow the creation of an importer's qualified beef council to promote non-domestic beef. Importers currently pay a per-pound fee into the Beef Checkoff promotion to offset beef research and promotion.
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