USDA Announces BSE Roundtable
During Utah Visit

View images of Secretary Johanns visit

Transcript of Tele-News Conference with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns Regarding the closed Canadian border and the impact on the beef industry - Hyrum, Utah - May 17, 2005

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will hold a roundtable discussion in Minnesota on June 9 regarding the safety of North American beef and the changing infrastructure of the industry.

Johanns noted that data illustrating the success of USDA's enhanced BSE surveillance program will be part of the roundtable discussion entitled "The Safety of North American Beef and the Economic Effect of BSE on the U.S. Beef Industry."

The Secretary’s announcement came during a visit to E.A. Miller beef processing plant in Hyrum, Utah where a large percent of its production was Canadian cattle. During the visit he emphasized the economic hardship that is being done to U.S. cattle ranchers and packers like Miller. Miller cut its workforce by 66 workers because of the lack of production.

The U.S. banned the shipment of Canadian cattle into the US followed the discovery of BSE in Canadian cattle in 2003. “Some refuse to look beyond the short-term economic benefits of keeping the Canadian border closed. They don't see the long-term harm to this industry.”

Johanns’ visit comes after Utah Cattlemen’s Association President, Monty Weston, invited the Secretary to visit a meat packing plant that was suffering because of the ban on Canadian cattle imports. Weston is concerned that if Miller closed, Utah cattle ranchers would incur substantial costs to ship their animals to processing plants farther away.

Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food, Leonard Blackham supported Secretary Johanns’ actions that help protect the Utah cattle and beef packing industries.

“This facility provides important economic benefits to our local economy and to our cattle industry. Without E.A. Miller, Utah cattle producers would have to ship their animals hundreds of miles to other packing plants,” Commissioner Blackham said.

The roundtable discussion will be open to the public and held on Thursday, June 9, from 9:30-2:30 at the Andrew Boss Laboratory, University of Minnesota, St. Paul campus, St. Paul, MN. Potential participants will receive invitations.

For more information on Secretary Johanns visit to Utah visit: http://ag.utah.gov.

Posted May 18, 2005