American Farm Bureau president Bob Stallman told the committee, “We have seen the promise this market holds…unfortunately, because of restrictions on U.S exports to Cuba, U.S. farmers have not been able to benefit from the full potential of the market.” Stallman says our competitors have an advantage right now but eliminating the restrictions would give U.S. farmers the advantage.

National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson, who has led eight trade missions to Cuba, noted current U.S. policy hampers our ability to be reliable suppliers. “Agricultural producers in the United States are well positioned to benefit from additional trade in Cuba,” said Johnson. “This will also assure Cubans a source for sustainable, high-quality food for its people.”

American Soybean Association Board member Scott Fritz of Indiana told the committee the sanctions have cost U.S. farmers and businesses billions of dollars in exports. “We can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch our competitors supply a market where we have a natural advantage.”

National Association of Wheat Growers president, Jerry McReynolds testified, “U.S. wheat producers and the industries that support them stand to gain up to $100 million in sales each year if trade and travel restrictions with Cuba are eased.”

John Wilson, senior vice president of marketing and industry affairs for Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) said lifting the restrictions would help the U.S. dairy industry regain some of the ground lost in 2009. He cited a June, 2009 International Trade Commission study which found “that fully eliminating financing and travel restrictions on U.S. exports to Cuba would have boosted 2008 dairy sales to Cuba from $13 million to between $39 and $87 million.”

Most commented that increased travel to Cuba would mean increased income for the country and more money to spend on U.S. goods.

Lively says packers understand what’s required of them. But he says in addition to that, all parties need to determine whether the agreement is what everyone thinks it is.

“We think this is an agreement that’s going to allow us to see our plants relisted and see our product start moving to Russia in an uninterrupted fashion,” Lively told Brownfield Monday. “Certainly that’s what we’re hoping for.”

AUDIO: Thad Lively (4 min. MP3)

The agreement is a move in the right direction, however Lively said it is viewed as being taken one step at a time.

After everything is finalized and the market is up and running, he says the end to Russia’s ban is especially good for U.S. pork producers.

“The Russian market, I think, this year is actually going to be a good market,” said Lively. “The economy in Russia is coming back; the exchange rates have worked to our benefit.”

The market will open with a limited number of U.S. plants approved for exporting pork to Russia, said Lively, but he adds that the USMEF’s objective is to get approval for all U.S. plants that want it. Lively is confident that includes most plants.

Representatives of several Nebraska farm and commodity groups were part of the group, which was led by Nebraska Farm Bureau president Keith Olsen. Olsen says Japan is a very important market for Nebraska farmers.

“We ship a lot of corn here—some wheat—and we move a lot of meat, both pork and beef,” Olsen says, “and we were in a couple of supermarkets yesterday and did get to see Nebraska beef and Nebraska pork.”

As for the issues surrounding U.S. beef exports into Japan, Olsen says nothing much has changed.

“What they have said here—and what we’ve known for some time—is that it’s a political issue,” Olsen says, “Not so much a beef safety issue—just boiling down to a political issue.”

The trip was part of the U.S. Embassy’s “Partners in Agriculture” series.  It included an event to celebrate the Japanese Agricultural Exchange Program.  That program has brought more than 350 Japanese to Nebraska since 1952 to learn about the state’s farming practices.

AUDIO: Keith Olsen (8 min MP3)

Vilsack said Johanns surely is aware that Vilsack will be going to Japan in April, and, “He would obviously know that we’ve had ongoing discussions with the Japanese. He would obviously know that we were dealing with the previous administration’s approach to Japan which was a non-starter which was that they had to reopen the entire market. And, it’s very apparent they’re not willing to do that.”

Vilsack says the Bush administration agreed with the Koreans that the U.S. would not offer any better deal to any other country in order to reopen markets, “Not only do we have to take a different approach than the previous administration under Secretary Johanns, in terms of Japanese beef, but we also have to think about how it relates to the Korean beef agreement which complicates things very, very much. So, I just can’t believe Senator Johanns would say that because if he knew all that he wouldn’t have said it.”

Johanns’ comment followed his remarks last week at a Senate committee hearing that it might be time to tell the Japanese to drop their beef restrictions or expect to have Japanese-produced Toyotas treated the same way.

In his address at the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim last week, Vilsack told producers that the administration recognizes that not every market is the same, “This market strategy reflects the understanding of the sophistication that now takes place in trade – one size does not fit all. And, it’s important for us to tailor our approach in trade to the individual market conditions that we find and we’re prepared to do that.”

And Vilsack celebrated the success of USDA technical teams in Russia, “And, I’m pleased to announce that as the result of the conversations with Russians we’ve finally reopened the pork industry in Russia, reopened the pork opportunities for American pork.”

Vilsack says USDA will continue to send technical teams to other places such as China that often put sanitary or phytosanitary barriers in place that aren’t supported by science, continuing the process of breaking down those barriers.

US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack – speech at 2010 Commodity Classic, Anaheim, California

Seventy percent of Swiss voters said “no” to the proposal.  Opponents of the referendum, including key farmers’ groups, had argued that existing laws are sufficient.  Switzerland’s animal care laws are already considered to be among the strictest in the world.

Link to story in on Seattle PI web site

U.S. negotiators announced late last week that a deal had been reached to end Russia’s ban on U.S. pork imports.   It includes a new export verification program requiring producers to prove their pork is free of the antibiotics that Russia has prohibited. 

The National Pork Producers Council applauds the re-opening of the Russian market.  Even though they did not see the need for an export verification program—U.S. pork already meets U.S. and international standards—NPPC president Don Butler says it was a concession that had to be made to get back in the market.  

According to USDA, six percent of all U.S. pork exports in 2009 were shipped to Russia.

An official of USDA’s Foreign Ag Service, deputy undersecretary Darci Vetter, spoke at an ag conference in Nebraska Thursday.  Vetter agrees the FTAs would be very beneficial to agriculture.  But in each case, she says there are other issues involved—tax evasion issues in Panama, labor violence in Columbia and automobiles in South Korea.

“There are some issues with U.S. auto access to the Korean market, and for some of our other manufactured goods as well,” Vetter says, “so we need to reach out with the Koreans to resolve that—and work with members of Congress as to what they would find acceptable and work through it.  I don’t know that these are easy issues, but they are certainly ones where we are going to be putting our efforts forward.”

Following Vetter’s speech at the Governor’s Ag Conference in Kearney, Nebraska Cattlemen president Bill Rishel of North Platte made an impassioned plea for ratification of the South Korea FTA.  He said it would greatly benefit the Nebraska cattle industry, and would bring an additional 200 million dollars to the state annually.  Rishel says if U.S. doesn’t act soon, other countries will step in to fill the void.

In a guest editorial in The Hill, a leading Congressional newspaper, American Meat Institute president J. Patrick Boyle urged Congress to pass the agreements.  He says rising meat consumption in other countries is a great opportunity for the U.S.—but in his words, “if the U.S. is not there to fill their plates, other major exporting nations will.”

AUDIO: Darci Vetter (5 min MP3)

USDA says the next step is for U.S. plants that want to export to Russia to apply for approval with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). AMS, in collaboration with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), has developed an Export Verification (EV) program for pork to Russia to address specific product requirements. Products produced under an approved EV Program are eligible to be issued an FSIS Export certificate. AMS is expected to approve the first plants as early as next week. FSIS will then provide Russian authorities with a list of approved U.S. pork facilities.

A U.S. negotiation team remains in Russia trying to resolve the poultry trade dispute as well. The Ag Department says those talks have been “constructive”.