U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns will deliver the keynote address a...

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns will deliver the keynote address at the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Board of Director’s meeting Thursday May 26 in Washington, D.C.

Also speaking that day will be John Bruton, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States and J.B. Penn, undersecretary of the USDA Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services.

Since being sworn in January 21 as secretary of agriculture, Johanns has made reopening the Japanese border to U.S. beef a top priority.

”We've spent the last year working on the technical aspects. We've had delegations there. We've answered the scientific questions and the technical questions. And I really believe that the day has arrived for trade to resume between our two countries on beef,” Johanns said during a teleconference days after he was sworn in.

Japan, the leading market for U.S. beef exports, banned American beef in December 2003 after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was found in a Canadian-born dairy cow in Washington State.

Johanns moved negotiations forward with the Japanese government directly after becoming agriculture secretary. Johanns has said he would like to resolve the issue through negotiation rather than impose trade sanctions on Japan.

A former governor of Nebraska, Johanns describes himself as a farmer’s son from Iowa with an intense passion for agriculture. He is no stranger to international market issues since as Nebraska’s governor he led agriculture, government and business leaders on trade missions to Japan, Taiwan, China, Brazil and Chile.

Johanns is also working with Penn to seek congressional approval of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiated with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Under the agreement, the United States and the Central American six countries agree to phase out protective tariffs and quotas on most farm products and food over several years. Penn has also been active in negotiations with Japan.

Bruton, a former prime minister of Ireland, became the European Union’s Ambassador to the United States in December 2004 and will talk about trade relations and economic investment.

In a recent trip to Kentucky, Bruton discussed the importance of the economic relationship between the United States and the European Union. He said the European Union investment In Kentucky alone supports more than 40,000 jobs.

Bruton, a cattle farmer himself, also visited a cattle operation while in Kentucky and had a number of questions for local farmers. Bruton said he would like to see similar operations set up in Europe.

“This is the farming system of the future. It provides total quality assurance to the consumer, and it also provides opportunities for smaller family farms to participate. It brings a sophistication of technology to bear without threatening the family farm,” he said.

U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to the European Union totaled 7,562 metric tons at a value of $5.1 million through February, increasing 33 percent in volume and 46 percent in value from the same period last year.

According to the USDA, the European Union will continue to be a net beef importer in 2005 with imports forecasted to grow 13 percent to 550,000 tons while beef exports will decrease 14 percent to 300,000 tons.

European and other international market opportunities and challenges will be discussed in great detail by USMEF Directors at the meeting. Senior government officials from the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) are scheduled for discussion groups on Wednesday, May 25.

The overall future direction of the beef and pork industries will also be discussed at committee meetings on Thursday. USMEF Chairman Alan Smith will open and close the three-day conference with his perspective on the U.S. meat industry, the vital importance of exports and how USMEF can help put U.S. meat on the world’s table.

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, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –