November 25, 2004

US Decision to Lift Ban on Canadian Cattle Faces Resistance

The US is making final preparations to lift its 18-month ban on Canadian cattle, but a group of ranchers is preparing to fight in court to stop that from happening.

Chief Executive Bill Bullard of the R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America said the group will act swiftly as soon as the government moves to allow Canadian cattle across the border.

Bullard stated that the US should have begun a strict monitoring program for all Canadian cattle still in the US last year after a case of BSE was reported in Alberta. But USDA officials instead started work on a new rule to declare Canada a "minimal risk region" and open trade.

"In essence, USDA is trying to turn the US into a country that manages animal diseases rather than a nation that tries to prevent them from entering the country in the first place," Bullard said.

But the proposed US rule, submitted by the USDA to the White House Office of Management and Budget Monday for a final review, is widely seen as necessary by Canadian and US industry that depend on trade. Canada exported 1.6 million head of cattle in 2002 and 491,000 head through May 2003, before the US enacted a ban in reaction to the BSE case there.

Canada does not have enough slaughter capacity for the cattle it produces, and neighboring US packers have traditionally kept overproduction there from depressing prices while profiting from the processing contracts.

J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute, a group representing US packers, said the ban on Canadian cattle continues to tighten lean beef supplies and drive up wholesale and retail prices for ground beef. "It's imperative that this rule proceed quickly to ease the pressure on both the Canadian and US meat industries," Boyle said.

But R-CALF's efforts to thwart the USDA are extremely popular with many US cattle ranchers and the group's membership has grown since it began fighting the USDA's actions to allow in Canadian cattle and beef. R-CALF got a court injunction earlier this year to stop the USDA from allowing in Canadian bone-in cuts and processed beef.