more


Share the EXTRA

Visit these pages inside:

 

Click on the images below to go to the websites:

American Angus Association
Angus Productions Inc
American Angus Tag Store
Certified Angus Beef
API Virtual Library

 

Angus Productions Inc.

January 20, 2012
Are We Falling Behind?

Study looks at the competitive implications internationally for the U.S. beef industry based on its cattle ID and traceability status.

A recently released study led by Kansas State University economists examined the status of cattle identification (ID) and traceability systems globally. The authors found that the United States lags behind both major export and import countries in the development, implementation and adoption of cattle ID and tracing systems.

The observation of domestic cattle ID and tracing systems lagging behind a developing global standard is particularly troubling. While U.S. cattle markets in 2011 were notably boosted by growing beef exports, the comparative disadvantage regarding current ID and tracing systems puts these (and future) beef export gains at risk.

Moreover, to date, the domestic beef market has largely been trusting of U.S. cattle producers and has not overwhelmingly "forced" implementation of additional ID and tracing systems. This lack of domestic pressure may soon change as domestic consumers are increasingly interested in understanding food production practices.

This "blessing" of limited domestic pressure to date may eventually be looked back upon as a "curse" in that it failed to further encourage more rapid implementation of additional ID and tracing systems.

The U.S. beef industry would be well-served to give these and related implications of this study serious thought before additional ID and traceability systems further and more fully become a "cost of doing business" both domestically and abroad.

For more information about the original study by Ted Schroeder and Glynn Tonsor, "International Cattle ID and Traceability: Competitive Implications for the U.S.," visit www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919211001229.

Editor's Note: This summary was first published in the January 2012 Connecting Livestock Producers with Economic Research (CLPER) newsletter, authored by Glynn Tonsor. The publication, which is available online at www.agmanager.info/livestock/marketing/CLPER/default.asp, seeks to "facilitate a wider distribution of peer-reviewed journal article information on economic issues of interest to modern livestock producers and other industry decision makers."



comment on this story







[Click here to go to the top of the page.]