March 2014
R-CALF USA may be defined as a non-profit producer organization, but our work benefits anyone who eats meat and those who live in an economy that includes agriculture. We’re more than a producer organization, we’re your organization!
We won Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals!
In this lawsuit, NCBA and its meatpacker friends are fighting to get rid of COOL. R-CALF USA along with others are interveners in the case to help protect COOL. During the oral arguments, a number of issues only raised by R-CALF USA and its partners were discussed.
On March 28, we learned that we won the COOL case in appeals! This means COOL labels will remain and we encourage everyone to buy Made in the U.S.A. products. As consumers, we’re voting with every dollar we spend.
We’re still working to keep FMD out of the U.S.
R-CALF USA and 54 other organizations asked a bipartisan group of Senators for help in stopping USDA-APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) from going forward with plans to import fresh and chilled beef from 14 states in Brazil. Brazil has been plagued with the most contagious disease known to cattle - foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD).
We’re asking Congress to require APHIS to suspend consideration of its Brazilian rule until after the agency updates a report to Congress to explain how it intends to prevent the introduction of FMD when it relaxes our borders for imports from countries where the disease is known to exist.
Our request was sent to Senator Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senator Johnson (D-S.D.), Senator Enzi (R-Wyo.), Senator Tester (D-Mont.), and Senator Heitkamp (D-N.D.).
A new book, The Meat Racket, exposes the corruption and under-handed dealings of meat packers. The author, Christopher Leonard, is the former national agribusiness reporter for the Associated Press. When asked how the phenomenal control of meatpackers affects consumers, Leonard’s response in part was, “I think consumers are put at a disadvantage when just three companies make more than 50 percent of all the nation’s chicken. That means the two biggest poultry firms, Tyson Foods and JBS, have enough market power to singlehandedly cut production and keep prices higher than they would be.”
The Meat Racket retails for $28, however R-CALF USA is able to offer a slight discount. To order: Send $25 to R-CALF USA Box 30715, Billings, MT 59107 with The Meat Racket in the memo line or call 406-252-2516 and order with a credit card.
R-CALF USA’s Checkoff Committee is busy researching many aspects of the Beef Checkoff Program including the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) and state beef councils. It is awaiting decisions on two complaints: one alleging it was improper for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, which receives checkoff funds, to lobby against COOL and the other alleging it was improper to allow checkoff funds to be used to promote and advertise beef as “North American” beef when the checkoff program refuses to promote “USA” beef. We’ll keep you updated on their findings!
R-CALF USA is solely funded by donations and member dues. Please consider becoming a member. For more info or to join go to http://www.r-calfusa.com, 406-252-2516.
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