Farmscape for May 30, 2014
U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling is expected to be among the key issues discussed next week when representatives of Manitoba Pork travel to Des Moines, Iowa to take part in World Pork Expo.
The 2014 edition of World Pork Expo, one of the largest pork specific exhibitions in the world, is slated for next week at the Iowa state fairgrounds in Des Moines.
Andrew Dickson, the general manager of Manitoba Pork says the annual event provides an excellent opportunity to talk with leaders in the U.S. swine industry about common issues.
Clip-Andrew Dickson-Manitoba Pork Council:
We'll definitely be talking about this Country of Origin Labelling case.
It's still going on and we won't know what the panel result will be.
That won't be till the end of June, beginning of July but we're fully expecting that Canada and Mexico will win again and we'll be applying for authority to retaliate against American products coming into Canada or into Mexico.
We'll be having some meetings with various officials to try and see if there's some way we can get the legislation changed and what vehicle might be used to do that.
Part of the problem now of course is that the Farm Bill did not make the changes that we had anticipated they would do and that vehicle as a legislative vehicle doesn't come through for another five years now so the Americans are going to find some other piece of legislation which to make the appropriate changes.
We think there's a movement underway now to amend the COOL regulations and get rid of this discrimination that goes against Canadian and Mexican live animals going into the United States.
Dickson notes earlier this week another major group of companies came together in a coalition to oppose Mandatory COOL.
He says they are particularly concerned about the possibility of retaliatory action being taken by the government of Canada and its implications for the U.S. economy.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.
*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council