TheBeefSite Newsletter - 9 March 2011

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Mercosur Deal To Cost EU Beef Industry €25 billion

Negotiations for a free trade agreement, between the EU and South American countries, are set to resume next week, which has sparked uproar from European beef producers.

A report from Copa-Cogeca has estimated that fully liberalised trade between the EU and Latin American Trade Bloc Mercosur, would lead to a complete collapse of the EU beef sector.

The report stated that the trade deal could end up costing the EU beef sector as much as €25 billion. It also highlighted that such a deal would increase price volatility and cause a huge rise in pork, poultry and maize imports to the EU from these countries.

In Ireland, members of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) protested outside the European Commission offices in Dublin against the negotiations.

IFA President John Bryan said that the European Commission cannot allow agriculture and food security to be sacrificed.

As well as the economic threats of a free trade deal, EU beef producers say that beef imports from these countries fail to meet the EU's high welfare and production standards.

Dawn Howard, Assistant Director of the British Agriculture Bureau told TheCattleSite that her biggest worry was the lack of a level playing field.

"If imports of beef from these countries is too increase, it is vital that this beef is produced to meet EU standards, and prices paid to European beef producers must reflect the higher welfare standards in place."

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

Introduction To Beef Genetics
Speaking at the 2011 NCBA Convention and Trade Show, Cattlemen's College, Darrh Bullock, from the University of Kentucky, gave a basic introduction to genetics. The application of basic genetic principles can have a major impact on the quality of a herd and the productivity of the beef enterprise, reports Charlotte Johnston, TheCattleSite Editor.

Index Input Costs in French Agriculture
The new president of the national federation of farmers' unions (FNSEA), Xavier Beulin has advocated indexing input costs as a buffer against such phenomena as soaring cereal prices, reports Peter Crosskey.

Australian Beef Outlook: Herd To Expand
This report by Peter Berry from the ABARE conference, looks at the beef and veal outlook to 2015-16.

Outlook For 2011 Irish Cattle Farms
James Breen and Kevin Hanrahan from Teagasc forecast the expenditure for various input items, the beef price that will prevail in 2011 and the likely income of Irish beef farmers in 2011.

Company News

Intervet/Schering-Plough Completes Delivery Of FMD Vaccine
SOUTH KOREA - Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health announces today that it has shipped 12 million doses of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine to South Korea to assist in the country’s efforts to halt the ongoing FMD outbreak.

BIOMIN’s Biotronic Top3 To Capitalise On Perforizer Effect
THAILAND - BIOMIN launches Biotronic® Top3, a new natural growth promoter combining carefully selected ingredients with a scientifically proven synergism for improved animal performance.

Global Beef Cattle Industry News