Page 14 - MWC 08-5-2021s

FARM REFORM Lane says. “You can't elimi-
continued from page 3
"Economic concentration in
agriculture has been hurting
our country, especially rural
America, for decades,” Booker
said. “The top four beef pack-
ing companies control nearly
85% of the market. The top four
pork packers control 71% of the
market. These companies have
too much market power, and it
comes at the expense of inde-
pendent family farmers, who
earn just 14.3 cents of every
dollar spent on food.”
The National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association (NCBA) was
quick to label the bill as “mis-
guided,” and Ethan Lane, NC-
BA’s vice president of govern-
ment affairs joined host Chip
Flory on AgriTalk to discuss
the bill further.
“In the political sphere we
talk about astroturf—it's when
you set up a group that's sup-
posed to look and feel like
something other than what it
really is—and you have these
family farm action type groups
that kind of ride in on bills
like this and say, ‘Gosh, this is
so great for real small family
farms and ranches,’ but they're
always funded and staffed by
animal rights extremists, and
this is the case here as well,”
ANIMAL AG
continued from page 3
Alongside the debut of the
Protein PACT, the North Amer-
ican Meat Institute released its
draft sustainability framework
and is soliciting public com-
ments to inform the organiza-
tion’s efforts to set transparent
baselines and measure prog-
ress toward ambitious sustain-
ability goals.
North American Meat Insti-
tute President and CEO Julie
Anna Potts commented:
“Animal protein is at the
center of healthy diets, and
our commitments to economic,
social, and environmental sus-
tainability also place us clearly
at the center of solutions for a
healthy future.
The Protein PACT is the
first initiative to unite meat,
poultry, and dairy farmers and
processors in a common vision
for transparent communica-
tion, continuous improvement,
and ambitious commitments
to ensure the sustainability of
the high-quality protein foods
Americans rely on every day.”
The Meat Institute draft
nate the feedlot system in the
highest quality beef producing
system in the world, and the
most sustainable system in the
world and expect it to survive.
This is a direct attack on cattle
production.”
Getting rid of the feedlot
system, and encouraging more
grass-fed beef production, won’t
result in the same efficiency
that we have today, Lane notes.
“There's a lot of great grass- ers and Elizabeth Warren sup- ferent things. The President's
fed beef producers around the
country, but we know that the
efficiency built into, and the
sustainability benefits of our
feedlot system, are without
equal. It's what allows us to
produce the highest quality
beef in the world, with the low-
est footprint and the best ani-
mal rights record along with
that. Attacking this system in
this way, there's some other
pieces in there that are kind of
buzz words,” he says.
Those buzzwords include
‘Product of USA” labeling and
competition, that are sprinkled
throughout the bill, drawing
support from some, but the
NCBA is fully against it, Lane
says.
“A lot of the issues we always
talk about whether it's a ‘Prod-
uct of USA’ labeling or compe-
tition or any of those things,
sustainability framework re-
leased encompasses more than
100 metrics developed through
extensive collaboration with
sustainability experts, supply
chain partners, and Meat Insti-
tute members.
After incorporating public
feedback, the Meat Institute
will set ambitious targets for
public commitments by pack-
ers and processors of all sizes to
verify progress in all five Pro-
tein PACT focus areas:
•Optimize contributions to
healthy land, air, and water
•Be the leading source of
high-quality protein in bal-
anced diets
•Provide the most humane
care and raise healthy animals
•Produce safe products
without exception
•Support a diverse work-
force and ensure safe workplac-
es
The Protein PACT is partial-
ly funded by U.S. farmers and
ranchers, including with sup-
port from the pork, dairy, and
soybean checkoffs.
The Midwest Cattleman · August 5, 2021 · P14
they kind of peppered some of those are things we're all fight-
that stuff into the bill as well ing through and working to fix
and that's brought some other and address.”
cattle groups out, kind of tacitly Part of what the NCBA plans
supporting this,” he continues. to do in response to this bill is
“We are full throated in oppo- education, Lane says.
sition to this bill. This is being “Senator Booker and his al-
advanced by people who do not lies are trying to tie this effort to
have the best interest of cat- what the Biden administration
tle country at heart. If you see did recently with the executive
Cory Booker and Bernie Sand- order. Those are two very dif-
porting a bill to try to save the Executive Order is devoting
U. S. Cattle industry, I advise $500 million towards expand-
being extremely skeptical of ed packing capacity, $100 mil-
that effort.” lion towards additional inspec-
“If you read the material tors and $55 million towards
that he’s [Booker] put out, and making sure state inspected
this is the reintroduction, he facilities can get up to spec.
introduced in the last Congress That processing capacity piece,
as well, it's funny because it's and fixing product of the USA,
kind of a straw man. He talks that's a big issue we've been
about packers and consolida- pushing on. Those are tangible
tion in the packing space, and deliverables and very different
some of those issues that obvi- than what Cory Booker and his
ously we're all wrestling with, allies are trying to do with this
but then his solution to that bill,” Lane explains. “So it's im-
is to eliminate feedlots,” Lane portant that folks understand
continues. It's a real straw man the difference between the two.
argument when you drill down These aren't the same thing,
into it, and it’s playing into and we need to make sure that
some of the emotions that we that's really, really well under-
know are certainly tangible in stood both on the hill and out in
cattle country right now. And the country.”
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