TheBeefSite Newsletter - 7 March 2012

TheBeefSite Weekly Newsletter

Wednesday 7th March 2012

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Over-regulation - Is it Limiting Food Production?

Cutting red-tape and reducing regulatory burdens are common themes that producers are eager to see put into practice. However, in reality, the industry in the majority of cases is seeing itself tied down more and more by the law.

This week, a report has emerged, which suggests that over-regulation is a threat to US livestock production.

Laws and regulations imposed by federal, state and local governments can make domestic farmers and ranchers uncompetitive with competitors overseas and drive them out of business, says the report prepared for the United Soybean Board.

"Just as manufacturing and service jobs have been “offshored” to Mexico, China, South Korea, India, and other countries, excessive regulation could eventually cause animal agriculture to move offshore. This could lead to higher consumer prices."

The five regulatory areas most likely to generate increased costs for US producers in the near term are animal housing, environmental regulations, the use of antimicrobials and other drugs, livestock trading, and labour regulations.

The European Commission is looking to drive forward an integrated approach to animal welfare. Objectives of a new animal welfare strategy include enhancing consumer empowerment and strengthening the enforcement of existing rules.

The idea of such a strategy comes from the belief that consumers are increasingly factoring in welfare considerations into their purchases. Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, John Dalli said that giving consumers access to the right information so that they can make informed choices will help drive animal welfare policies forward.

However, farming group Copa-Cogeca warned against this strategy which it said would increase costs of production for producers.

Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said: "It is essential for farmers to be able to recover their additional costs from the market. EU farmers knowledge and efforts to ensure a high level of animal welfare must be recognised."

Also in the EU, European farmers' organisations have said that the proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) fail to grasp any opportunity and will in fact undermine the ability of EU farmers to be competitive, efficient and achieve sustainable growth.

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 5 new features this week:

Brazilian Rainforest Caught Between Biodiversity and Business
Brazil is exporting more and more agricultural produce: soya beans and beef in particular, but also corn, rice and sugar. Taken together, these exports represent half of Brazil’s total today, writes Gaëlle Courcoux from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD).

Is High Quality Beef an Insurance Policy?
Consumers know that purchasing a high-quality steak is like an insurance policy. They’re paying quite a bit for beef these days and they want to make sure it’s good, but is high quality an insurance policy, asks Miranda Reiman, Certified Angus Beef (CAB) Assistant Director.

DDGS as Creep Feed for Calves
Dried distillers grains is a readily available commodity in Iowa that can be successfully used as a single ingredient creep feed for young suckling calves when considering both short term and long term results, writes Garland Dahlke and Daryl Strohbehn from Iowa Beef Centre.

Virginia Cattle - How Do We Stack Up?
The Virginia Retained Ownership Program (ROP) offers Virginia cow-calf producers the opportunity to retain ownership on a portion of their calf crop (as few as 5 head). This scheme, and others like it across the country, allow producers to pool their calves and feed them together in order to gather objective data regarding the feedlot performance, carcass merit and health of their cattle, writes Dr Scott P. Greiner, Extension Animal Scientist, Virginia Tech.

Reducing Volatile Organic Compounds in Silages
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) can have short and long-term adverse health effects but can also impact feed intake. Biomin looks at how VOCs can be reduced in silages using inoculants.