USDA Farm Bill

[farmers_son]

It appears that Bush is going to veto the Farm Bill. This could result in a delay of implementation of COOL which can only be good news for Canadian cattle and pork producers. Already some U.S. packers are refusing Canadian origin product because of fears of COOL.

See:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/05/0123.xml


Also see:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1UH?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/02/0062.xml

The USDA Farm Bill suspends the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Agricultural Act of 1949. The 1938 Act is a supply control statute with marketing quota provisions that are applicable when the supplies of wheat and cotton are excessive. The permanent authority for price support to producers of agricultural commodities is provided in the Agricultural Act of 1949.

According to Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer the Farm Bill includes trade distorting support.

Surely not...

[Willowcreek]

farmersson- there is another scenerio which was not mentioned...If Bush vetos the current Bill- Congress could vote to extend the current 2002 Farm Bill which they have extended now until the middle of May....
In that case the M-COOL law as written under that Farm Bill becomes effective in Sept 2008- and according to the Ag Secretary they are ready to enforce it under the much more restrictive rules...
Bush has been pushing Congress to extend the current bill another year- which I think he is an idiot on....

Next year if they take up the Farm Bill again- almost certainly there will be many more Democrats in Congress and a good possibility of one in the White House...And any new bill they produce could/would be much more consumer oriented, much more anti-global trade, and much more supportive of the farmer/rancher...

[Willowcreek]

COOL Will be Implemented During 2008
05/12/2008


By the end of this year shoppers will learn where the meat they wish to purchase comes from by checking its Country-of-Origin label. Under Secretary of Agriculture Bruce Knight, confirms USDA will implement Country-of-Origin labeling yet this year.

[Willowcreek]

If this extension goes thru- the M-COOL law will go into effect in Sept 08 as it was written in the 02 law- and unless USDA decides to use the newer guidelines in the new law to implement it- won't even require beef/pork/product that has been in both countries to be recognized and labeled as a product of USA and Canada-- instead just recognizing and labeling it as foreign (Canadian) product.....
GW is getting his last shot at shafting Canadians.....LOL

---------------------------------------

Bush issues statement on farm bill veto, calls for current law extension

By Janie Gabbett on 5/14/2008 for Meatingplace.com


President Bush on Tuesday issued a statement explaining his decision to veto the 2007 farm bill once it is passed by Congress and again called for a one-year extension of current law. Bush said the current farm bill proposal "undermines our ability to open foreign markets to American agricultural goods."

[Willowcreek]

This Bill contains the new M-COOL law...

Quote:
May 15, 2008
WASHINGTON - The House emphatically approved a major five-year farm bill by a veto-proof margin yesterday, setting up President Bush for a major political embarrassment.

Brushing off Bush's opposition, many Republicans joined a majority of Democrats in approving the farm bill, 318-106. This is well over the two-thirds vote needed to override Bush's promised veto.


Quote:
NFU: Farm Bill Clears Senate With Overwhelming Majority


WASHINGTON (May 15, 2008) - The U.S. Senate today followed yesterday's action in the House of Representatives by approving the farm bill conference report, sending the bill to the president's desk.

The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 passed the Senate by a 81-15 vote.

[6cylinder]

It ain't really over until the fat lady sings. Bush may
want to veto but the house has enough votes to
overcome that. In the end this may be a good thing.
If the current farm bill falls mCOOL aka 2002 would
still have to come into effect and that one has the
really Draconian writing on label rules. Weird , but
we may have to hope the latest version comes in
lest we get stuck with the Medieval version of 2002.
Then hope for a prolonged and somewhat impotent
NAFTA/WTO challenge.

[Willowcreek]

6cylinder-- You just hit the nail on the head and are correct....

But the old Farmerson/ABP/CCA type folk have opposed this new law- while calling me a "crazy old coot" for even thinking/suggesting that such a law could come to be....Or for even suggesting the anti globalist trader, anti multinational corporate, anti sell out of our soveriegnty "Backash" that is taking hold in the US- shown by the 2006 elections- and that will be shown 2 fold in the November 2008 elections....

I think after Jan 2009- you will see much more stringent laws put on imports, Corporate ownership, and monopolization/integration of the Corporates and Packing/Feeding industry's....Along with the allowance of private companies to BSE test...

But as usual the ABP/CCA/NCBA will be 50 years behind- still fighting their windmills....

[Willowcreek]

May 23, 2008


Cattle Producers Appreciate Congressional Override of President’s Farm Bill Veto



Billings, Mont. – Independent U.S. cattle producers were pleased to learn that the Senate and the House of Representatives on Thursday voted once again to support U.S. farmers and ranchers by overriding President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill by a significant margin.



R-CALF USA was part of a coalition of more than 1,000 farm and ranch groups, consumer groups, rural groups and other groups that urged Congress to implement the new Farm Bill as quickly as possible.



“While we didn’t get everything we worked for, R-CALF USA made some great strides for the U.S. cattle industry,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.



“After years and years of work, of critical importance are the improvements made to country-of-origin labeling (COOL),” he added. “Beginning this fall, consumers will be able to see what country produced the beef their families eat, and we hope those consumers will choose beef from cattle born, raised and processed in the United States.



“R-CALF will work with USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to make certain the agency writes appropriate rules for COOL and doesn’t burden U.S. cattle producers with onerous requirements that are geared to favor the multinational meatpackers, which seem to have entirely too much influence with USDA,” Bullard noted.



For the first time ever, this Farm Bill includes a Livestock Title. R-CALF USA is pleased that smaller state-inspected meat processors will now be allowed to participate in interstate commerce and that some improvements were made to the Packers and Stockyards Act for producers’ benefit.

[farmers_son]

http://www.producer.com/free/editorial/news.php?iss=2008-05-22&sec=news&sto=004

Ritz vows action against COOL
this document web posted: 2008-05-22
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau

The United States Congress last week overwhelmingly approved a new five-year farm bill, mustering enough congressional support to overturn any presidential attempt at a veto.

Canadian agriculture minister Gerry Ritz immediately condemned it as a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and contrary to subsidy-cutting proposals that the U.S. is supporting at World Trade Organization talks in Geneva.

He promised to launch a NAFTA appeal if country-of-origin labelling (COOL) provisions in the bill take effect and hurt Canadian exports.

Ritz said it undermines efforts to get a WTO deal this summer.

"I'm very concerned when at the same time we're struggling to get WTO agreements, we're seeing the U.S. Congress pass their farm bill which flies in the face of everything we're trying to do over there," Ritz told the House of Commons agriculture committee May 15. "They're saying one thing and doing another."

From Washington, Reuters News Agency reported that while much of the spending in the $289 billion farm bill is aimed at food, nutrition and food stamp programs, farm subsidies remain and are higher than numbers on the negotiating table in Geneva.

It reported that president George Bush promised to veto the bill on grounds it subsidizes multimillionaire farmers while Americans face higher food prices.

However, senators and members of the House of Representatives said they have the numbers to overturn a presidential veto, which requires a two-thirds vote. The margin of victory in the Senate and House was much higher.

The bill also would provide billions of dollars of subsidy for the biofuel industry.

Ritz said as a result of the congressional vote, Canada can no longer count on a Bush veto to kill the COOL program.

[Willowcreek]

Its going to be awful hard and is highly hypocritical to be challenging the US M-COOL laws, when Canadian governments are promoting their own...

It just time for the old fogies at CCA/ABP/NCBA/SSGA to move into the 21st century- and change with the times....

CONSUMERS WANT TO KNOW WHAT COUNTRY THEIR FOOD COMES FROM!!!!!!!!!

PM announces changes to Canadian food label laws


Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced tough new guidelines for the "Made in Canada" label on food, but Liberals have dismissed the changes as a "photo-op."


21/05/2008 5:41:01 PM

CTV.ca News Staff

Ottawa is introducing new laws so that food products processed in Canada, but made with foreign ingredients, will have to say so on the label, Harper told reporters in Vineland, Ont.

"The truth is, foods marked 'Product of Canada' or 'Made in Canada' actually may not be very Canadian at all," he said. "Our new guidelines are designed to redefine Canadian food content labels to better reflect the true origins of products in today's global marketplace"

Under current laws, Harper said, it's legal to call a product "Made in Canada" if 51 per cent of production costs were incurred here and the final transformation of the product was in Canada.

The current laws are largely unchanged since the 1980s -- before the rapid globalization of food production changed the origin of many of the products in grocery stores.

"A bottle of apple juice could have a 'made in Canada' label in it and be made from apples grown in China. A bar of chocolate might say 'product of Canada,' but the cocoa beans could come from the Ivory Coast,'' Harper said.

Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter said his party has been pushing for changes for the past three years, after "broad consultations" with farmers.

"We heard their calls and began pursuing the needed changes. The Prime Minister's photo-op only proves that he's been hearing what the Liberal Caucus and Canadian farmers have been demanding ever since," Easter said in a press release.

Under the new rules, a "Product of Canada" label will mean that virtually all of the contents are Canadian in origin.

A consumer advocate says the changes are long overdue.

"We are looking at two different reasons for labelling. One is to define some economic benefit to Canada. The other is to let the consumer know where items in that can or product came from," Mel Fruitman, the vice president of the Consumers' Association of Canada, told CTV Newsnet.

"It is that latter concern that has been bothering us for the past few years as we are seeing more and more imported products -- and unfortunately, more and more tainted products."

Fruitman said he wants to see better regulation of products -- and more severe penalties for those who disobey rules meant to protect consumers. He added that Ottawa needs to have more inspectors to make sure the new regulations are followed.

Harper said the new labels would reflect whether some of the ingredients in a Canadian-made product come from another country.

He said the announcement would be a boon for Canadian farmers because the country's consumers want homegrown products.

Ottawa will be holding consultations with Canadians and the food industry before the final label guidelines are completed.