New Zealand Resumes Imports of Canadian Beef

[farmers_son]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/07/08/newzealand-cow050708.html

CBC News
New Zealand will resume the import of Canadian beef immediately, federal Agricultural Minister Andy Mitchell said Friday.

Mitchell said the country has acknowledged that Canadian beef is safe.

New Zealand was one of 34 counties that closed its border to Canadian beef and cattle after the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in a Canadian-born cow in May 2003.

New Zealand is the 15th country to lift its ban in the last two years.

The United States, Canada's biggest market, accepts some cuts of beef, but no live cattle.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to reopen the border to cattle under 30 months March 7, but an American cattle lobby group was successful in getting an injunction.

R-CALF argued that Canada doesn't adequately test for mad cow, saying reopening the border would have economic consequences for U.S. producers.

On March 2, federal Judge Richard Cebull agreed to the injunction, and he has set a July 27 date for trial on R-CALF's concerns with the USDA.

The USDA is appealing Cebull's injunction decision, which will be heard July 13.

[grassfarmer]

That's interesting as NZ is keen to preserve their very high health status. Good for them. On the other hand what do we actually export over there? I have no clue what type of beef product they would buy from Canada.

[farmers_son]

There is a list of Canada's 60 top beef export markets at:

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sdd8642/$FILE/table7.pdf

New Zealand is not even on the list. While not an important beef export market this is a positive announcment as one more country says our beef is safe. I think the timing of this announcement is important days before the safety of our product is debated in U.S. court.

New Zealand no doubt recognizes that a normalization of trade between U.S. and Canada would mean increased Canadian imports of their beef.

New Zealand has taken the view that the Canadian and U.S. beef markets are homogenous and have treated us as one market since BSE was first discovered in North America in 2003.

[pandiana]

I was going to search to see if NZ accepts US beef with the same restrictions, or lack thereof. But maybe you already know if this is the case?

[farmers_son]

There is a list of countries banning U.S. beef as of June 30, 2005 at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/trade/bse_trade_ban_status.html

New Zealand is not on the list.

[December 2003] New Zealand agricultural authorities said they saw no reason to place a ban on U.S. beef imports because measures introduced to protect and monitor imports from North America when a case of mad cow disease was diagnosed in Canada in May were still in place.
"There is a great deal of cattle movement between Canada and the U.S. and we have been treating those populations as homogenous," the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture said in a joint statement.
New Zealand authorities said the country imported few beef products from the U.S. and these were all assessed as low risk for transmitting the disease.

http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2003/Mad-Cow-Ban-Beef24dec03.htm

[cowman]

I doubt we ever sold any beef to New Zealand anyway? I suspect they are anxious to get the border open so they have a backdoor into the US market? I guess the big question is why did they have their border closed to us in the first place...and not the USA?
If there is one policy of R-CALF I agree with it is the COOL law? I believe we should have it here as well? If you have faith in the product you are producing, why would you be ashamed to label it? I have no problem with Canadian beef being labeled "product of Canada"...as long as it really is! I have a problem with Australia and New Zealand passing off their product as "product of Canada" to avoid the quotas the USA has placed on their beef? Is it any wonder the US producers got upset with all the Canadian beef flooding their market...when in reality Canada was used as a backdoor dumping ground by every Tom, Dick and Harry?
How would you react if you were an American consumer and got a tough old yellow steak...labeled "product of Canada"?

[farmers_son]

Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling or COOL law is wrong for producers, no matter what country they are in.

The point that needs to be driven home to producers everywhere, but most importantly in the United States, is that they produce live cattle, not beef, and the price of those live cattle has virtually nothing to do with the price of beef in the store. Even though there is no evidence to suggest that U.S. consumers would indeed pay more for U.S. labeled beef (example imported wines, cars, clothes etc.) if there was an increase in price at the retail level there is zero hope that any of that money would make it back to the producer level through higher live cattle prices. The producer would have expenses related to record keeping for MCOOL but receive none of the benefit. The other players in the value chain from the packers on up would keep any and all benefits for themselves. R-Calf is aware of the problems associated with packer control of the market in the U.S. yet through their twisted logic think that there could still be a benefit for them. Much the same line of thought as calling beef from countries with BSE unsafe will increase prices for American cattle.

And beyond that, MCOOL would not be an effective protectionist tool designed to keep out imported product because foodservice and packaged foods would be exempt from the labeling law. All I have available is Canadian numbers but assuming the U.S. is similar, non retail sales of beef account for approximately 35% of consumption and growing.

MCOOL would actually help the growth of Canadian packing plants to the detriment of U.S. plants especially in the Northwest.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, "How would you react if you were an American consumer and got a tough old yellow steak labeled "product of Canada"
I take it that's another quote from your ongoing campaign to discredit anyone selling grassfed beef - NZ in this case? Shame you aren't interested enough to try the actual product instead of making up stories about it.
NZ sells export quality table beef that cuts with a butter knife and it's grassfed - can you say that North American beef is consistantly this tender? At least some of the smarter Americans, those in the grass business, have realised how far behind the kiwis they are and are now importing both knowledge and genetics in an attept to make up lost ground.

[cowman]

Well grassfarmer, I've tried it. Had a steak at Montanas that was Australian beef. Now I would think this chain would probably not buy garbage, right?
It was tough and the fat(what little there was, was yellow! I sent it back and had chicken!
When I was a kid my old man butchered a two year old steer that was on grass...you needed good teeth to eat that boy! Of course we never aged him any...just like all the rest of the beef we ate. Straight bred hereford...fat as a seal.
I suppose if you hang the darned things until they are ready to rot, they might soften up, but I do suspect they would still be yellow?
Personally, from my point of view, I still prefer "baby beef" with lots of snow white marbling.

[grassfarmer]

So you haven't in fact tasted NZ beef ... only Australian and some poor Canadian product?

[cakadu]

Wasn't there an agreement signed not all that long ago - in the last 18 months or so - between the US and Australia to relax and/or eliminate all the tarrifs on imported beef (could have been lamb too) from Australia in the next 15 years?

Cowman, one of the biggest problems that plagues the beef industry is a lack of consistency in the product. Take any steak from the bigger grocery chains, cook them the same way i.e. barbequed and you will have a difference in product - guaranteed. The industry has made great strides towards strengthening consistency and in time I'm sure there will be great quality and consistency across the board.

Nothing beats a good steak on the barbeque, except for maybe a great lamb chop, and we can pride ourselves on the product we do produce.

As grassfarmer, rpkaiser and some of the others who have learned about direct marketing, can attest to is what keeps customers coming back is that they get to know you and your products and can be assured that from one batch to the next the consistency and the quality will be there.

Now, where they really need to get some consistency is in the cured/smoked pork products like bacon and ham. You can buy the same brand of bacon or ham on separate occasions and it will never be the same. One time it will be pretty good and the next time it will be too salty to eat. Does anyone have an explanation for what the difference might be as I would really like to know. I don't want to eliminate buying them occasionally, but I am getting more and more leery about it because of the inconsistency. Thanks.

[grassfarmer]

Cakadu, I've read that one in four steaks in North America gives the consumer a dissapointing experience. That's quite a high percentage given the high cost of steaks in the stores.
I'm constantly dissapointed with the pork and chicken that we buy from the stores - much of it seems lean, tough and bland. Beef has a consistency problem but so have our competitors.

[cowman]

grassfarmer: No I haven't had any New Zealand beef...thought I was buying some once but it turned out to be trimmed A3 beef they were advertizing as New Zealand...at Safeway.
Actually, whenever possible I buy products made in Canada? I figure why not help out the home team?
I will note a fairly consistant steak can be bought at Costco? I've never had a bad one there.
My nephew has a bar and grill in Thailand. He says you can't buy a decent steak there. It is all either local beef or mostly Australian...the tourists prefer the chicken!

[cowman]

Oh and one more thing grassfarmer...what is the makeup of the New Zealand herd? I remember reading an article where they liked to raise a lot of dairy calves for the export market.

[grassfarmer]

The makeup of their herd is simple Cowman, Angus and Hereford genetics predominate but as you say they raise dairy bulls for export although this is for a different market and is not the high quality grassfed beef you will buy as a steak at a resteraunt anywhere.