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NAFTA negotiations and its American beef
By Mike Schultz and Martin Rosas September 21, 2017 4:50 AM While many across America have focused on the wreckage of American factories caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement, more families saw their livelihoods impacted by NAFTA hammering America’s beef industry. As a family farmer in…
R-CALF USA to USTR: Make Seven Improvements to NAFTA
Billings, Mont. – In comprehensive comments submitted yesterday to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), R-CALF USA states the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) benefited transnational meatpackers at the expense of the majority of U.S. cattlemen, meaning all those who sell exclusively U.S.-born and -raised…
R-CALF USA Calls Cargill and JBS Bad Actors in Comments Supporting Secretary Perdue’s Competitive Injury Rule
Billings, Mont. – In comments submitted today to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), R-CALF USA accuses the nation’s second- and third-largest beef packers, JBS and Cargill, respectively, of engaging in improper conduct that has harmed family farmers and ranchers. This improper conduct,…
R-CALF USA Seeks U.S. Probe into JBS Corruption Scandal
Billings, Mont. – Today, R-CALF USA sent a comprehensive, 11-page request to President Trump, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for a full investigation and strict antitrust enforcement action in the wake of the unfolding corruption charges against JBS. Citing news reports…
Why and How Mandatory COOL Should Be Reinstated Through the NAFTA Renegotiations
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Congress passed the mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) law in 2002 to provide consumers with information as to the origins of their food. However, it was not until early 2013 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finally implemented COOL in a manner that accurately distinguished beef…
R-CALF USA to Discuss State of U.S. Cattle Industry in Ohio
Billings, Mont.-The statewide Ohio cattle association, Buckeye Quality Beef Association, will host a public meeting featuring R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard to explain the precarious state of the U.S. cattle industry and offer solutions with which to strengthen it. There is no cost to attend the meeting and it is…
R-CALF USA Launches Public Petition to Ban Brazilian Beef Until COOL Is Reinstated
Billings, Mont. – In a public We the People petition launched yesterday and promoted on its Website, Facebook and Twitter pages, R-CALF USA seeks 100,000 signatures during the next 30 days to call on the Trump Administration to ban imports of Brazilian beef until all beef sold in U.S. supermarkets is…
R-CALF USA Statement on Delay of GIPSA Rule
Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement following the two Federal Register notices published today that 1) extended for six months (to October 19, 2017) the effective date of the interim final rule that clarifies that victims of unlawful packer conduct would not have to…
R-CALF USA Statement on Renewed Beef Access to China
Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement following the Financial Times report that President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping reached an agreement over the weekend to allow U.S. beef into China. “While we welcome the news that China intends to reopen its market…