Wednesday April 29 Ag News

New names - Same great shows

The Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association is excited to announce a big change to the second and third largest indoor farm shows in the U.S. – new names! The Nebraska Power Farming Show is now called the Nebraska Ag Expo and the Iowa Power Farming Show is the Iowa Ag Expo.

“These name changes better reflect the evolution of agriculture and our farm shows,” states Tom Junge, show director. “Today’s growers come to our farm shows to engage with the familiar brands they know, but also to discover emerging companies with technology and innovation that will make them even better at what they do.”

According to Junge, there have been three major agricultural evolutions over the years. One of the biggest was the mechanization of agriculture. “In 1918, the Iowa farm show had an unimaginable 43 tractor brands on display,” emphasizes Junge. “Then, while U.S. tractor sales peaked in the early 1950s, the horsepower or ‘power’ of tractors continued to increase to help farmers cover more land in less time. This evolution brought about the names “Iowa and Nebraska Power Farming Shows.”

Precision agriculture has been a key component of the third wave of modern agricultural advancement. The first precision ag brought satellite and aerial imagery, weather prediction, variable rate fertilizer application and crop health indicators to growers. This was followed by aggregating the machine data for even more precise planting, topographical mapping and soil data. Today, precision agriculture has grown to include biologicals, robotics and autonomous vehicles.

Farm shows have experienced these evolutions as well. “At one time, only ag equipment companies were allowed to exhibit at our Iowa show,” explains Junge. “Now our ‘pure-ag’ shows include the expansion of ALL ag-related products. Today, more than ever before, growers are hungry for knowledge and eager to adopt innovation and new technology. Our new names reflect the changes happening in agriculture today and illustrates our commitment to provide the best attendee and exhibitor experience possible.”

The Nebraska Ag Expo (nebraskaagexpo.com) will be held December 8-10, 2020 at the Lancaster Event Center in Lincoln, NE. The Iowa Ag Expo (iowaagexpo.com) will be held February 2-4, 2021 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA.



ICA Board Supports Mandatory 50% Cash Trade

The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) Board of Directors reaffirmed its desire for 50% negotiated cash trade in all major cattle feeding regions this week as a way to increase price discovery and bring more leverage to independent producers in the fed cattle markets nationwide.

Iowa’s cattle producers participate in the cash market with higher frequency than other regions of the United States, setting the base price for formula transactions that are much more commonplace in large feedyards in southern states like Texas. In most weeks, more than 50% of Iowa’s fed cattle are traded through cash negotiation, compared to about 5% in Texas.

In June of 2016, the ICA board put in place a policy encouraging 50% cash trade. Since that time, however, there have not been significant increases in cash trade in other parts of the United States. The new policy passed by the board supports a regulatory approach to ensure increased negotiated trade and price discovery by mandating packers to purchase at least 50% of their cattle through negotiated cash trade at the plant level. ICA also supports a 14 day delivery period. It also aligns closely with the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association’s policy.

“Traditionally, the cattle industry does not support increased regulation,” says Matt Deppe, CEO of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. “But at this point, we have exhausted all other options, and we cannot allow Iowa’s cattle producers to continue carrying the burden of price discovery for the entire industry.”

In addition to the lack of price discovery caused by this disparity, Iowa’s cattle producers have recently had to bear the brunt of the challenges caused by decreased packing capacity due to COVID-19. Formula cattle have filled nearly all available slaughter space, leaving Iowa’s market-ready cattle in the feedyards.

ICA’s full policy is as follows:

CP-LCM-44 Increasing Price Discovery 2020

    WHEREAS, the Iowa cattlemen who sell their cattle on the open market rely on competitive price discovery to get a fair price for their cattle; and

    WHEREAS, most independent Iowa cattlemen wish to avoid vertical integration that is evident in the pork and poultry sectors; and

    WHEREAS, the popularity of packer formula pricing based on the weighted average limits negotiations on the open market;

    THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association work with its membership, as well as other cattle industry stakeholders, to require packers in all major cattle feeding regions to purchase at least 50 percent of their cattle through negotiated cash trade at the plant level, with a 14 day delivery period.

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and NCBA encourage members to utilize voluntary price reporting of fed cattle prices.




Fischer, Sasse, Smith Urge AT&T to Improve Local Broadcast Programming Access for Rural Nebraskans
U.S. Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Representative Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) today wrote a letter to AT&T urging the company to provide local broadcast programming to all of its subscribers in Nebraska. This includes subscribers in the North Platte and Scottsbluff media market areas who currently lack access to local broadcast channels on AT&T’s satellite TV platform, DIRECTV.

“It is imperative that your subscribers located in rural markets, where there is an increased reliance on satellite services, can receive local news, weather reports, and emergency alerts,” the letter reads. “Given the ongoing COVID-19 national emergency, the availability of local broadcast programming is more important now than ever. All Nebraska residents, no matter their location, need to be able to stay informed on statewide and local efforts to combat the pandemic.”

More information:
The recently passed Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act (P.L. 116-94 “STCPPA”) that became law in December 2019 seeks to incentivize satellite TV carriage of local broadcast signals in every media market nationwide, including the smaller, rural markets that AT&T/DIRECTV historically has failed to carry. Effective May 31, 2020, the STCPPA requires carriage of local broadcast stations in all 210 local markets as a precondition to be able to continue using distant signals. Currently, subscribers in and around North Platte and Scottsbluff lack access to local news programming on AT&T’s DIRECTV satellite service.



Webinar to Discuss Evaporative Cooling Pads for Swine Facilities

Heat stress can have major negative impacts on pig production. As outdoor temperatures begin to warm up, evaporative cooling pads need to be fully functional to provide a cooled environment for pigs.

A 20-minute webinar to help those in the pork industry understand evaporative cooling pad principles has been scheduled for May 1 at 11 a.m. An opportunity to ask questions will be included in the webinar.

Topics to be discussed include operation principles and design considerations.

Presenters will include Brett Ramirez, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University, and Jay Harmon, associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director for Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension and Outreach at Iowa State.

“Producers can expect to increase their understanding of the principles of evaporative cooling pads and will be able to apply this information to improve their operation,” said Ramirez.

Participants must pre-register online here.... https://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/webinar-discuss-evaporative-cooling-pads-swine-facilities.  Viewing details will be sent to registered participants prior to the webinar.



Weekly Ethanol Production for 4/24/2020

According to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association, ethanol production scaled back by 4.6%, or 26,000 barrels per day (b/d), to 537,000 b/d—the lowest level since the EIA began reporting ethanol production statistics in 2010. Production was 48% below the same week in 2019. The four-week average ethanol production rate dropped 11.5% to 585,000 b/d, equivalent to an annualized rate of 8.97 billion gallons.

Ethanol stocks contracted for the first time in five weeks, dropping 4.9% from last week’s record high to 26.3 million barrels. Stocks lowered across all PADDs, with larger movement in the Gulf Coast (PADD 3) and West Coast (PADD 5) regions—down 9.5% and 10.1%, respectively.

The volume of gasoline supplied to the U.S. market, a measure of implied demand, grew 10.3% to 5.860 million b/d (89.83 bg annualized) yet was 37% lower than a year ago.

Refiner/blender net inputs of ethanol followed, jumping 11.5% to 583,000 b/d, equivalent to 8.94 bg annualized but 37% below the year-earlier level.

There were no imports of ethanol recorded for the seventh straight week. (Weekly export data for ethanol is not reported simultaneously; the latest export data is as of February 2020.)



Peterson, Conaway Mark 200th Anniversary of House Agriculture Committee

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Ranking Member K. Michael Conaway of Texas, issued a statement Wednesday commemorating the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the House Committee on Agriculture.

On April 29, 1820, Congressman Lewis Williams of North Carolina introduced a resolution to the House to create a committee to oversee the nation’s agricultural sector. The full House later approved the resolution, formally establishing the Committee on May 3, 1820.

“For 200 years, the House Agriculture Committee has brought the issues facing farmers and ranchers and the rural communities they call home together with the needs of consumers in the city, to make sure all Americans have food, fiber, and fuel,” said Peterson. “The work we do has seen us through challenges on the farm and in our nation more broadly, ranging from the Civil War and Reconstruction, to two World Wars, the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, the farm crisis in the 1980s, and now to our current challenge with this pandemic. We’ve never shied away from the tough tasks before us, and we won’t start now. Americans need policy that ensures their food is available and their communities are strong. That was our job 200 years ago, and it’s still our job today.”

“Today marks 200 years of service from the House Agriculture Committee to America’s farmers and ranchers, who have dedicated themselves to this country for far longer,” said Conaway. “American agriculture has kept this nation fed and clothed through many difficult times in our history, including the global health pandemic we are currently facing. Now more than ever, we are reminded of the important role these hardworking individuals play in our daily lives, and our duty to stand with them as Members of the House Agriculture Committee.”



Expanding Overseas Markets Key to Dairy Post-Coronavirus, NMPF’s Morris SaysEven as U.S. dairy struggles to meet the immediate challenges of coronavirus, its work on expanding overseas markets continues “not with an eye on what’s going to happen necessarily in the next week, but what needs to happen over the next year or two” to help the industry recover, said Shawna Morris, vice president for trade at the National Milk Producers Federation.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in China was an international trade concern before it became a major domestic issue in the U.S. The global response to coronavirus has had some hopeful aspects, Morris said – the importance of agriculture to the world’s economy is in the spotlight, and governments have responded to pressing needs by taking more practical approaches to regulations that have unnecessarily impeded trade, she said.

Despite the disruptions, trade officials need to keep long-range goals of open commerce that will be essential to returning dairy to prosperity in mind, she said. “We’re working with our government and others to outline the dairy industry’s priorities for upcoming trade agreements, notably with the UK and Kenya for instance, as well as ongoing work -- issues and policy barriers that had existed prior to COVID-19 and are still in place that we’re working with our government allies and with other counterparts in other countries to try to help address,” she said.



Europe Rebuked for Unfair Dairy Trade Practices in New USTR Report

The U.S. dairy industry applauds the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for firmly rebuking the European Union (EU)’s protectionist dairy trade policies in its annual U.S. Special 301 Report, released today.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) endorse USTR’s findings that the EU has erected a complex regime of trade barriers that harm opportunities for U.S. exports to Europe. In addition, the EU has aggressively sought to restrict U.S. exports in global markets by weaponizing geographical indications (GIs) protections and blocking the ability of U.S. suppliers to use common names to market cheeses such as fontina, gorgonzola, asiago and feta.

“USTR has rightly taken Europe to task for their destructive and unfair campaign against American-made dairy exports, and in particular the high-quality cheeses produced by the dedicated men and women of the U.S. dairy industry,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC. “I commend USTR for its recent actions to defend U.S. dairy and successfully negotiate groundbreaking GI provisions in both USMCA and the Phase One deal with China. USTR must continue to build upon this excellent precedent by making it a top priority to secure further commitments from our trade partners in future trade negotiations.”

The Special 301 Report found that “…the EU pressures trading partners to prevent all producers, other than in certain EU regions, from using certain product names, such as fontina, gorgonzola, parmesan, asiago, or feta. This is despite the fact that these terms are the common names for products produced in countries around the world.”

“Rather than trying to compete on a level playing field, Europe has tried to effectively institute a blockade of U.S. dairy,” Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “This is unacceptable and harms America’s dairy industry and the rural communities our farmers and processors support.

The dairy industry stands in full support of USTR’s efforts to confront EU’s anti-trade and anti-competitive policies and we will continue to proactively press for the full dismantlement of these trade barriers.”

USDEC and NMPF filed comments with USTR urging the U.S. government to confront the EU’s trade agenda against U.S. dairy in order to protect American jobs as well as the legitimate rights of U.S. food manufacturers, farmers and exporters.



NMPF Calling for Adequate Aid for All Dairy Producers, Citing Analysis

A new economic analysis projecting a 58 percent decline this year in net cash income for U.S. dairy farms due to coronavirus-related market disruptions further demonstrates the need to eliminate a proposed $125,000 payment cap in federal disaster assistance, according to Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation.

As highlighted at the Texas Ag Forum yesterday, dairy losses will outpace those for cattle, cotton, and feed grains and oil seeds, with catastrophic losses for all producers. For example, a dairy of 1,000 cows in Wisconsin will see net cash income decline by $500,000, while larger operations in Texas and Idaho could see losses in the $1.2 million range, according to the analysis.

Average net cash income losses in dairy would be $345,000. The USDA assistance package for agriculture announced April 17 caps payments to producers at $125,000 per commodity. Many dairies only produce milk.

“Analysis shows what the dairy community already knows – the COVID-19 crisis presents grave danger for all dairies, from small operations to the producers whose milk nourishes the majority of U.S. consumers and keep supply chains running,” Mulhern said. “We have raised our concerns over payment limits with both President Trump and USDA, and with the Administration making important decisions in how it allocates aid, it’s important to highlight the very real impacts that lower support levels will have on dairy producers and the communities they serve.”

NMPF is supporting efforts by lawmakers and allied organizations to increase aid to producers and estimate losses and compensation in ways that reflect the true scale of damage to the farm economy. Last week, a bipartisan group of 126 House members and 28 Senators sent letters to the administration urging that this problem be solved.

The letters were spearheaded by Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Jim Costa (D-CA), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Fred Upton (R-MI), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), and Roger Marshall (R-KS).



Ranch Group's Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling Petition Gains 250K Signatures in 7 Days

Launched Thursday morning by R-CALF USA and several of its rancher-members, the petition urging the President and Congress to immediately pass Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (MCOOL) for beef, pork and dairy products has gained 250K signatures in just 7 days. R-CALF USA states in the petition that MCOOL will strengthen national food security and help stimulate economic growth. The petition can be viewed at www.DemandUSABeef.com.

R-CALF USA member Kerry Cramton, a Kansas cattle producer who, among several other grassroots cattle producers, was instrumental in launching the petition and said the goal is to demonstrate to the President and Congress that they have been deceived into believing that neither consumers nor cattle producers wanted a mandatory law to provide consumers information as to where their beef, pork and dairy products actually originate.

"There is a handful of very powerful lobbying groups that have held the President and Congress at bay on this critically important initiative and our petition clearly shows that our government has been misled," said Cramton.

"Consumers want to know where their beef is produced and they deserve the opportunity to support American ranchers by purchasing beef exclusively born, raised, and harvested in the United States," she added.

R-CALF USA has strongly supported MCOOL ever since it helped pass the original law in 2002. The meatpacking lobby fought aggressively to repeal MCOOL for beef and pork ever since - failing to do so in a U.S. federal court in 2013, but ultimately succeeding in 2015 with the help of an adverse ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

As the COVID-19 pandemic backs up United States cattle due to processing plant slow-downs and shut-downs, leaving many American ranchers with no access to the marketplace, meatpackers are continually sourcing cheaper foreign cattle to the detriment of U.S. cattle producers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that during the last two weeks U.S. meatpackers sourced over 12,000 live cattle from Canada to be harvested in the United States.

"This is unconscionable," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard who said his group has members who have not been able to get a bid for their cattle for the past five weeks."

Bullard said if MCOOL were in place today, consumers could immediately correct this situation by choosing to buy beef that is exclusively born, raised, and harvested in the United States, which he said would help American ranchers.

Bullard said MCOOL would also help consumers avoid beef produced in foreign countries with ongoing animal disease problems and unknown animal husbandry practices.

In February the USDA announced it would begin allowing imports of raw beef from Brazil. The USDA then welcomed the first shipment of raw beef into the U.S. from Namibia, Africa on April 17. Both countries are known to harbor foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), the most contagious disease known to cattle, hogs, sheep, deer and other cloven-hoofed animals. In addition, in recent years the Brazilian food inspection system was cited for corrupt practices.

Bullard said there was a 22% surge in the combined volume of beef and cattle imports from mid-March to early April.

"While American ranchers are unable to access their own market, importers and meatpackers are increasing the volume of imported beef while simultaneously depriving U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers' access to their own markets. This has to stop and MCOOL will put the choice in consumers' hands as to where they want their beef to be born, raised and harvested," said Bullard adding, "We are confident that most consumers will want USA beef."

Given the hugely successful petition drive for MCOOL, R-CALF USA has now established a 'Demand USA Beef' Fundly crowdfunding page in an effort to raise $50,000 so it can bolster the group's promotional and lobbying efforts to secure the passage of MCOOL for beef, pork and dairy products as quickly as possible.

Last month, R-CALF USA launched a new Website www.USABeef.org, a free platform for cattle ranchers and farmers who raise and sell cattle or beef that is exclusively USA born, raised, and harvested directly to consumers. The site is growing daily and currently includes 335 farms, ranches and businesses from 41 states. Consumers can call the beef providers on this list to obtain USA beef produced in their state.



Ranch Group Urges President and Congress to Determine if Packing Industry Should Be Decentralized

In a letter delivered today to President Trump and House and Senate congressional leaders, R-CALF USA states the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the United States' beef supply chain lacks resiliency and redundancy and urges a review to consider whether a physical and geographical restructuring of the meatpacking industry is required to disaggregate and decentralize beef processing capacity.

The group explains that the ongoing restricted market access and seriously depressed prices for America's cattle farmers and ranchers, lack of available beef in some or many of America's grocery stores, and near record to record beef prices charged to America's consumers, reveal that the United States must immediately begin the development of a strategic, national food production, processing and distribution policy that can meet America's food security interests.

The letter states that food security interests are arguably the most vital of interests to all of America and that the high level of physical and geographical concentration of America's vital beef supply chain is intuitively and inherently contrary to those food security interests.

The letter states the requested review should consider whether a fundamental restructuring of the United States' multisegmented beef supply chain is required to ensure that never again will the closure of one or a few plants destroy the livelihoods of America's cattle farmers and ranchers, or disrupt America's access to an abundant supply of an important protein source: safe, wholesome and nutritious beef.

It also states that such a restructuring appears necessary to ensure that never again will America's cattle farmers and ranchers require an infusion of taxpayer subsidies to substitute what a robust, competitive marketplace could and should have continually provided, even in the face of a pandemic. 

The group urges two immediate "triage reforms" to rebalance the cattle market to prevent the loss of the critical mass of cattle farmers and ranchers essential to achieving America's food security interests.

Those reforms include empowering America's consumers to begin supporting America's cattle farmers and ranchers with a new Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (MCOOL) law for beef. The group states MCOOL will reignite the flame of competition extinguished by importers who lessen demand for USA-produced beef with their cheaper, undifferentiated foreign beef products.

The second urgent reform requested is designed to restore the integrity of the cattle market's most important price discovery market - its cash market. The group suggests the current Congress reintroduce the 110th Congress' Senate Bill 786 and modify it to require beef packers to participate in the price discovery market at a level greater than half, i.e., above 50%. The group states this reform will help to immediately reignite competition in the marketplace itself.

The group makes clear that more reforms are needed but acknowledges that additional comprehensive reforms would be outside of the specific investigation it was asking Congress to consider now and should be discussed later.

In conclusion, the group pledges to work with the President and Congress to rebuild America's economy and offers its organization's expertise in identifying the deficiencies hamstringing a robustly competitive beef supply chain that is resilient and maintains redundancy at all times, even in the face of crisis.



USDA To Implement President Trump’s Executive Order On Meat and Poultry Processors

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue released the following statement after President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to keep meat and poultry processing facilities open during the COVID-19 national emergency.

“I thank President Trump for signing this executive order and recognizing the importance of keeping our food supply chain safe, secure, and plentiful. Our nation’s meat and poultry processing facilities play an integral role in the continuity of our food supply chain,” said Secretary Perdue. “Maintaining the health and safety of these heroic employees in order to ensure that these critical facilities can continue operating is paramount. I also want to thank the companies who are doing their best to keep their workforce safe as well as keeping our food supply sustained. USDA will continue to work with its partners across the federal government to ensure employee safety to maintain this essential industry.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the Department of Labor have put out guidance for plants to implement to help ensure employee safety to reopen plants or to continue to operate those still open. Under the Executive Order and the authority of the Defense Production Act, USDA will work with meat processing to affirm they will operate in accordance with the CDC and OSHA guidance, and then work with state and local officials to ensure that these plants are allowed to operate to produce the meat protein that Americans need. USDA will continue to work with the CDC, OSHA, FDA, and state and local officials to ensure that facilities implementing this guidance to keep employees safe can continue operating.

Additional information and details will be released soon.



IPPA Supports Implementation of Defense Production Act

On April 28, President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to extend much-needed federal support to the U.S. pork production system. By triggering the DPA, the federal government will prioritize the continuity of pork processing plant operations. The following statement may be attributed to Mike Paustian, a pig farmer from Walcott, Iowa, and president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

"Iowa's pig farmers appreciate the President taking this first important step to provide uniform and consistent solutions and all available resources to address the unprecedented crisis we are facing.

"We must safely stabilize the current plant capacity challenge and overcome other major hurdles facing our nation's pork production system. According to Decision Innovation Solutions, Iowa has more than 142,000 workers involved in the pork production and processing. All these Iowans are being emotionally and financially impacted by the disruptions to the supply chain and this pain will quickly spread across all parts of rural Iowa.

"It is also critical to ensure the health and safety of all the courageous people that work in our processing facilities. Their work is paramount to ensuring an on-going supply of safe and plentiful protein for consumers.

"We also want to thank Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, and our two U.S. Senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, for reaching out to the President to share our message with him about the need for a coordinated effort to deal with this crisis."



President Trump Signs Order to Keep Beef Plants Operating

Today, President Trump signed an executive order that orders beef packing plants to remain open and employees in those plants to remain at work through the COVID-19 pandemic. The action taken by President Trump will help keep the beef supply chain intact, ensure beef remains available to consumers and ultimately provide the food that American consumers will need to reopen the nation.

"While there are currently no widespread shortages of beef, we are seeing supply chain disruptions because of plant closures and reductions in the processing speed at many, if not most, beef processing plants in the United States. We thank President Trump for his recognition of the problem and the action he has taken today to begin correcting it,” said NCBA CEO Colin Woodall. “American consumers rely on a safe, steady supply of food, and President Trump understands the importance of keeping cattle and beef moving to ensure agriculture continues to operate at a time when the nation needs it most.”

Protecting the flow of cattle through the supply chain was among the first priorities for NCBA at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. The mounting problems facing cattle producers as the supply chain slowed, led NCBA to redouble its effort to keep cattle and beef moving. Today's action comes because of the association's work on behalf of the entire industry. NCBA's work on this topic is critical to reducing the damage being inflicted upon cattle producers who are unable to get cattle shipped or processed because of unprecedented supply chain interruptions.

“We understand and appreciate the difficulties facing processing plant workers during this crisis, said Woodall. “Processing plant employees play a role that is critical to the security of this nation and America’s cattle producers offer their sincere gratitude for the work they are doing to keep food shortages from compounding the complex issues we’re facing.”



North American Meat Institute: Executive Order Will Protect Against Meat Shortages

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) today said President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to ensure the ongoing production of meat and poultry to feed Americans during the COVID-19 crisis.

“By keeping meat and poultry producers operating, the President's Executive Order will help avert hardship for agricultural producers and keep safe, affordable food on the tables of American families,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “The safety of the heroic men and women working in the meat and poultry industry is the first priority.  And as it is assured, facilities should be allowed to re-open. We are grateful to the President for acting to protect our nation’s food supply chain.”

The industry has and will continue to implement the Centers for Disease Control and Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance released Sunday. These measures include: testing, temperature checks, face coverings, social distancing of employees where possible and much more. To support employees many Meat Institute members are raising pay, offering bonuses, providing paid sick leave and increasing health benefits.



NPPC Statement on Implementation of Defense Production Act

President Trump last night invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to extend much-needed federal support to the U.S. pork production system. By triggering the DPA, the federal government will prioritize the continuity of pork processing plant operations. The following statement may be attributed to Howard "A.V." Roth, NPPC president and a producer from Wauzeka, Wisconsin.

"We are thankful for the support extended by our federal, state and local government leaders. As we all work together to protect workers and the nation's food supply, we need uniform and consistent solutions and all available resources to address this unprecedented crisis.  We thank President Trump for taking this step.

"We must safely stabilize the current plant capacity challenge and overcome other major hurdles facing the nation's pork production system, one that employs 550,000 workers and generates $23 billion in personal income across rural America. Hog values have plummeted to virtually zero and hog farmers are facing liquidation of their farms and other assets without immediate relief, including expanded financial aid without payment limitations.

"While getting pork packing plants back online is foundational, the tragic reality is that millions of hogs can't enter the food supply. We need coordinated partnership between the industry and federal, state and local authorities to euthanize pigs in an orderly, ethical and safe way."



USMEF Statement on Executive Order to Help Ensure Safe, Stable Meat Production

On April 28, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ensure that meat production can continue during the COVID-19 crisis. More details on the executive order are available in this White House fact sheet.

U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President and CEO Dan Halstrom issued the following statement:

The executive order will help ensure a steady, reliable supply of high-quality U.S. protein - not only for customers in the United States, but across the globe. The U.S. meat industry is already taking extraordinary steps to ensure worker safety, including COVID-19 testing, temperature checks, use of personal protective equipment and social distancing of employees. But further action is needed to stabilize our meat supply chain, and USMEF greatly appreciates the Trump administration's prioritization of safe and consistent meat production and processing during this difficult time. The executive order comes as welcome news not only to consumers but also to U.S. livestock producers, who have endured severe economic hardship as a result of this pandemic.



Lack of COVID protections threatens Nebraska workers, communities, food production

On Wednesday, April 29, Nebraska community advocates, food production workers, and public health organizations held a virtual press conference featuring Nebraska worker stories and perspectives. A letter was sent to Nebraska Governor Ricketts, urging him to address critical missing COVID-19 protections for meatpacking and poultry workers without delay. We must ensure workers, their families, and communities are safe, and food production can continue in Nebraska.

Nebraska food production worker:
“I have been working for 20 years. At home, we are all stressed. A coworker called me and said: "get tested, I tested positive and the only place I go is work." I went to the doctor and I am awaiting the results.

Although the company has taken some measures, with the way the work area is structured, it is difficult to keep our distance. There are many jobs where employees are working very closely and that closeness is what can infect us. Now there are quite a few employees who have the virus. At this time, going to work is a risk that we are facing every day.”

Among the protections in the letter, we urge Governor Ricketts to take swift action by:
-    Implementing 6-foot distancing between workers on the processing floor, not just in lunch and break areas.
-    Requiring paid sick leave, job protection, and shutdown pay so people can afford to stay home and monitor symptoms or care for family members with symptoms.
-    Requiring provision of appropriate protective equipment, including masks.
-    Ensuring transparency about cases connected to the workplace and information to employees in the languages most prevalent in each worksite.
-    Increasing inspections to guarantee worker safety and compliance with best practices.

Becky Gould, Executive Director, Nebraska Appleseed:
“As meatpacking plants in Nebraska become the epicenter of the state’s coronavirus outbreak, the struggles faced by the people working inside are apparent and alarming.

It’s time for Nebraska to get ahead and implement essential protections for essential workers, their families, and communities. By doing so, we can help slow the spread of the virus to protect all Nebraskans and ensure food production can continue safely in our state.”

Rose Godinez, Legal and Policy Counsel, ACLU of Nebraska:
“It’s one thing to say meatpacking plant workers are essential and appreciated; it’s another thing to show it. Nebraska’s essential workers are in critical need of paid leave, personal protective equipment, transparent information of positive COVID-19 cases, and accessible public health information which includes language equity, translation, and interpretation services so they can protect themselves and their families. Protecting workers protects our state. All Nebraskans face increased risk if essential workers go to work unprotected or because they can’t afford not to.”

Gladys Godinez, Community Organizer, Center for Rural Affairs:
“For the last month, we have worked side by side with meatpacking employees and their family members. We spoke to the son of an individual who works at Tyson Foods in Lexington, Nebraska. He asks for the following: 'Provide our essential meatpacking workers with paid leave, hazard pay, personal protective equipment, and free COVID-19 testing for employees and their families.' As meatpacking plants close throughout the country, facilities are becoming national hotspots for COVID-19. Companies, as well as state and federal governments, need to step up and offer their essential workers real and meaningful solutions to keep everyone safe and economically secure.”

Sergio Sosa, Executive Director, Heartland Workers Center:
“Meatpacking plants - big and small, union or non-union - need to understand that there is a life and family behind each worker considered an “essential employee,” many of whom are immigrants and refugees. If each and everyone of us does not do our part - in both our workplace and in the community - we will not only see a decline in our economy but also an increase in cases and likely deaths.”

Alexis Steele, Policy Staff Attorney, Immigrant Legal Center:
“Sixty-six percent of Nebraska’s meat-processing workers are immigrants, many of whom are unjustly denied access to unemployment benefits and not allowed to receive stimulus money through the most recent CARES Act. Immigrants are valued and essential members of our communities who pay state and federal taxes. We must enact safe and humane policies that value the dignity of every person in our state. Immigrants and all food-processing workers should not be forced to work under conditions that violate CDC public health guidelines and local public health directives.

The safety and well-being of our communities is directly correlated to how we treat immigrants and minorities. We must do better.”



Executive Order Ignores Well-Being of Workers, Farmers Union Says

Invoking the Defense Production Act, President Donald Trump announced today that he plans to sign an executive order requiring meat processing facilities to continue operating through the coronavirus pandemic. The order, which will designate such facilities as “critical infrastructure,” is expected to absolve the companies who own them from liability for illnesses or deaths among workers.

The decision follows the closure of more than a dozen plants due to coronavirus outbreaks. As a result, national meat processing capacity has fallen by 20 percent, costing family farmers and ranchers key markets and risking meat shortages at grocery stores. Though National Farmers Union (NFU) shares the president’s concerns around maintaining food system infrastructure, the organization is equally concerned with the health and wellbeing of meat plant employees, as NFU President Rob Larew emphasized in a statement:

“Meat processing facilities are critical for farmers’ livelihoods and national food security – something that has become especially clear as dozens of these plants have closed or slowed production in recent weeks. We are immensely worried about the financial implications for rural communities and the nutritional and economic implications for American consumers, and we sincerely appreciate efforts to address those issues.

“That being said, such efforts should not occur at the expense of meat plant workers. These workers work in close quarters and often lack access to appropriate protective equipment or paid sick leave, making them among the most vulnerable to coronavirus. More than 4,000 have tested positive for the virus, and at least 19 have died. Their health and lives are not an acceptable tradeoff for our meat supply, nor are these things mutually exclusive – we must find solutions that protect both.

“Most immediately, meat plant workers need personal protective equipment and other safeguards, access to testing and treatment, and paid sick leave. But in the longer-term, we need to completely rethink this economic model. Both the abuses that workers are enduring as well as the disruptions farmers and consumers are experiencing are a direct result of extreme consolidation in the meat industry. The good news is that the best mechanism to secure our food supply and protect workers is one and the same: antitrust enforcement. National Farmers Union has been calling for greater oversight for years, to little avail. We hope that this current crisis finally compels Congress and the administration to address the issue of market power in the agriculture industry and promote a diverse and resilient food system.”



Report: JBS, Smithfield Worst Slaughter Plants in US

Amid reports of COVID-19 outbreaks at the largest meat processors in the United States, a new analysis of government documents by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has found that, over a three-year span, JBS USA and Smithfield Foods had the worst animal welfare records among livestock slaughter plants. The Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, SD, had the largest number of animal welfare violations for a single plant, while JBS USA had the highest total by far for any meat company in the United States. In total, these seven JBS-owned plants had 132 incidents, including 18 violations classified as “egregious.”

AWI’s analysis focused on the number of humane handling incidents documented from 2016 through 2018, the most recent years for which data is available. Based on this metric, JBS, a Brazilian company that is the world’s largest meat producer and a majority owner of the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry brand, operates seven of the 10 worst large livestock slaughter plants in the country. In total, these seven JBS-owned plants had 132 incidents, including 18 violations classified as “egregious.” The violations included multiple incidents of failing to stun animals before shackling and hanging them to be dismembered, likely causing the animals excruciating pain. Rounding out the top 10 worst large plants was the Smithfield South Dakota plant (41 violations), a Tyson pork plant in Waterloo, IA (30 incidents), and a New Angus beef plant in Aberdeen, SD (21 incidents).

The three slaughter plants with the worst animal welfare records (the Smithfield South Dakota plant, the Tyson Iowa plant, and a JBS USA plant in Worthington, MN) have all indefinitely suspended operations due to outbreaks of COVID-19 among plant workers.

“We are not at all surprised to see a correlation between worker welfare and animal welfare at slaughter plants,” said Dena Jones, AWI farm animal program director. “In our experience, plants that don’t treat animals well often don’t treat workers well. It’s a reflection of management placing profits over the well-being of the living resources that make those profits possible.”

AWI’s conclusions are summarized in a new report, “Humane Slaughter Update: Federal and State Oversight of the Welfare of Farm Animals at Slaughter.” The report examines the enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act by federal and state departments of agriculture at more than 2,700 plants across the country that slaughter cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. (Poultry, which represent the vast majority of the approximately 9.6 billion land animals killed for food each year, are covered in other AWI reports and excluded from this analysis). This is AWI’s fourth comprehensive report since 2008 on the enforcement of humane slaughter laws at US livestock slaughter plants.

Data was obtained through public records requests to federal and state agriculture departments and from records posted on the USDA website. The USDA routinely delays releasing public records — for months, if not years — which poses a real risk to public health and compromises the humane treatment of animals. In 2018, AWI and Farm Sanctuary sued the USDA to compel the department to proactively post slaughter plant records. The lawsuit is pending.

Other key findings in the report:
·       Federal humane slaughter enforcement has remained relatively stable, while state enforcement continues to rise, but the level varies dramatically by state. For instance, nearly half of the states operating meat inspection programs have issued no plant suspensions for humane slaughter violations since at least 2002, when AWI began monitoring state enforcement. Louisiana has provided no evidence that it has issued any noncompliance records for humane slaughter violations in nearly two decades.

·       Repeat violators continue to present a major enforcement problem, though the USDA is taking stronger administrative actions, such as entering into consent orders with persistent violators, in the absence of criminal prosecution.

·       Federal and state inspection personnel continue to demonstrate unfamiliarity with humane slaughter enforcement rules, as evidenced by their failure to take appropriate enforcement actions, particularly in response to egregious violations. Egregious inhumane treatment includes dragging injured animals to slaughter, running them over with equipment, and skinning them alive.

·       Federal suspensions of slaughter plants have increased dramatically since 2008, following the largest beef recall in US history — spurred by video footage documenting workers at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in California abusing downed animals. Nevertheless, humane slaughter enforcement remains low in comparison to other aspects of food safety enforcement. Resources devoted to humane handling oversight at the federal level represent less than 3% of total funding for food safety inspections.

Among AWI’s recommendations:
·       The USDA and state agriculture departments must significantly increase funding for humane handling and slaughter enforcement. The USDA should more closely monitor state enforcement programs to verify that they are complying with the law.

·       To deter repeat violators, federal and state enforcement agencies must establish escalating penalties and, when necessary, pursue criminal animal cruelty charges.

·       The USDA must revise federal humane slaughter regulations, which have not been updated since 1979, to address the most common noncompliance issues at plants (e.g., faulty animal stunning devices and inadequate worker training).