USMEF Leadership Meets with Chinese Government/Trade
USMEF Leadership Meets with Chinese Government/Trade
The elected officers of USMEF and members of USMEF’s management team met this week with officials from China’s food safety bureau (AQSIQ) and the Veterinarian Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) as they conduct a fact-finding tour on the pork and beef markets of Asia.
USMEF Chairman Jon Caspers will address the World Pork Conference
The USMEF team includes Chairman Jon Caspers, a pork producer from Swaledale, Iowa; Chair-elect Jim Peterson, a beef producer from Buffalo, Montana; Vice-chair Keith Miller, a farmer-stockman from Great Bend, Kansas; and several members of USMEF’s management team including President and CEO Philip Seng, Senior Vice President Asia-Pacific Joel Haggard, and Director of Export Services Kevin Smith.
The team is accompanied on portions of the visit by Tim Bierman, a farmer from Larrabee, Iowa, and president of the National Pork Board; and Gene Hugoson, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
In addition to the meetings with Chinese government officials, the USMEF-led team was briefed on Monday by a multi-agency team of U.S. government officials that included Robert Goldberg, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. embassy in Beijing; William Westman, minister-counselor for agricultural affairs; and Dr. Peter Fernandez, acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS).
“These meetings provide valuable insights for the elected leadership of USMEF to understand what is happening on the ground in key markets like China, particularly as it relates to pork and the H1N1 virus and access for U.S. beef,” said Caspers. “We received a thorough assessment of the agricultural situation in China from nearly a dozen experts representing the economic, health, political, agricultural and technology sectors of the U.S. overseas staff. When you combine that with face-to-face meetings with Chinese food safety and veterinary officials, it’s been an eye-opening visit for our team.”
The USMEF team is in Qingdao, China, today to attend the World Pork Conference where both Caspers and Haggard will be presenters. At the conclusion of the conference, they will stop in South Korea to receive a briefing on the status of the market for U.S. beef in that key export market, and conclude with a stop in Tokyo as USMEF continues to assess the impact of the recent Japanese elections.
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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.
USMEF Leadership Meets with Chinese Government/Trade
The elected officers of USMEF and members of USMEF’s management team met this week with officials from China’s food safety bureau (AQSIQ) and the Veterinarian Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) as they conduct a fact-finding tour on the pork and beef markets of Asia.
USMEF Chairman Jon Caspers will address the World Pork Conference
The USMEF team includes Chairman Jon Caspers, a pork producer from Swaledale, Iowa; Chair-elect Jim Peterson, a beef producer from Buffalo, Montana; Vice-chair Keith Miller, a farmer-stockman from Great Bend, Kansas; and several members of USMEF’s management team including President and CEO Philip Seng, Senior Vice President Asia-Pacific Joel Haggard, and Director of Export Services Kevin Smith.
The team is accompanied on portions of the visit by Tim Bierman, a farmer from Larrabee, Iowa, and president of the National Pork Board; and Gene Hugoson, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
In addition to the meetings with Chinese government officials, the USMEF-led team was briefed on Monday by a multi-agency team of U.S. government officials that included Robert Goldberg, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. embassy in Beijing; William Westman, minister-counselor for agricultural affairs; and Dr. Peter Fernandez, acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS).
“These meetings provide valuable insights for the elected leadership of USMEF to understand what is happening on the ground in key markets like China, particularly as it relates to pork and the H1N1 virus and access for U.S. beef,” said Caspers. “We received a thorough assessment of the agricultural situation in China from nearly a dozen experts representing the economic, health, political, agricultural and technology sectors of the U.S. overseas staff. When you combine that with face-to-face meetings with Chinese food safety and veterinary officials, it’s been an eye-opening visit for our team.”
The USMEF team is in Qingdao, China, today to attend the World Pork Conference where both Caspers and Haggard will be presenters. At the conclusion of the conference, they will stop in South Korea to receive a briefing on the status of the market for U.S. beef in that key export market, and conclude with a stop in Tokyo as USMEF continues to assess the impact of the recent Japanese elections.
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.