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MSCA director returns from Asia with broader trade perspective

The director of the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association has a broader perspective on marketing meat exports following a recent trade mission to Asia.

Ashley Kohls was part of a U.S. Meat Export Federation trip to China and Japan earlier this month.

She says while domestic competition for beef is usually pork or chicken, global customers are choosing between similar cuts sourced from competing countries.

“The biggest competitor for U.S. beef in China and Japan is actually beef from Australia or South America, so I think for cattle producers to go and see that and wrap their head around what they’re doing on the farm to make a product that tastes good and is eye-appealing is really important.”

Kohls tells Brownfield seeing how American products are presented in foreign grocery stores is valuable for U.S. cattlemen.

She says there’s also a lot of value in meeting trade partners face to face.

“Being able to have those discussions, like with China regarding synthetic implants and kind of understanding what their reasoning was as far as technologies go, versus what we just assume we understood here on the U.S. side.”

Kohls says within a half hour of arriving in Japan, trade officials there were asking about the Trans Pacific Partnership in hopes the U.S. will reconsider being a part of the agreement.