The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) announced that its prestigious Michae...

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) announced that its prestigious Michael Mansfield Award has been bestowed on Senator Richard G. Lugar.

Named in honor of the late congressman, senator and ambassador to Japan, the Michael Mansfield Award recognizes outstanding leadership in expanding opportunities in international trade and has been presented by USMEF on only six previous occasions.

"Senator Lugar is a recognized global statesman who has been a champion of agriculture, trade and, importantly, meat exports,” said USMEF Vice Chair Dennis Erpelding, of Elanco Animal Health. “Senator Lugar has been a leader in trade expansion by vigorously supporting free trade agreements and the lowering of foreign barriers to U.S. farm products. USMEF is pleased to honor Senator Lugar for his service and dedication to U.S. agriculture internationally."      

A farmer himself, Senator Lugar is well-known in the industry as a friend to U.S. agriculture and U.S. exports. Senator Lugar is a former chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. He built bipartisan support for the 1996 federal farm program reforms, ending 1930s-era federal production controls. The Indiana senator has promoted broader risk management options for farmers, research advancements and increased export opportunities. He led initiatives to streamline the U.S. Department of Agriculture and initiated a biofuels research program to help decrease U.S. dependency on foreign oil.

Thanks to supporters such as Senator Lugar, the U.S. red meat industry has seen decades of export expansion. In 2004, the U.S. pork industry sold more than more than 1 million metric tons of pork and pork variety meat products worth $2.227 billion to export markets for the first time. The U.S. beef industry, too, broke volume and value records in the last decade, although the crisis engendered by two U.S. cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) severely hampered exports in 2004 and 2005. In 2003, the United States exported 1.27 million metric tons of beef and beef variety meat valued at $3.9 billion.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation 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, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

— USMEF —