You’ve heard about the recent health concerns around imported foods. Wisconsin farmers are now asking: who will make sure imported ground beef is safe to eat?
Darin Von Ruden would like to know.
He farms in the Vernon County town of Westby and is president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union. Von Ruden calls the Trump administration’s decision to allow more imported ground beef into the U.S. starting September 1, a short-term answer to a much bigger problem.
“This beef that’s going to be coming in at a cheaper rate. Is it going through all the legal steps to get here?” Von Ruden asks.
He believes food safety has to be part of the conversation as the U.S. increases its reliance on imported beef for the next 90 days.
“If there are corners being cut through the inspection process at our borders, that should raise real concerns for American consumers,” Von Ruden explains.
The temporary change is designed to increase the supply of ground beef and help address high prices for consumers. But for farmers, questions about where that beef comes from and how it’s inspected are just as important as the price.
Listen to this story as Teri Barr talks with Darin Von Ruden about the safety of beef imports:
Food safety comes first
Von Ruden wants to see Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) return for beef. Consumers don’t always have a clear answer about whether the beef they’re purchasing came from an American producer or was imported.
“We need to make sure that we get COOL back in place,” he says. “Consumers should have the information they need to make their own purchasing decisions.”
Wisconsin Farmers Union Government Relations Director Michelle Ramirez-White says consumers need to know imported beef is being held to the same safety standards expected of American producers. But farmers are also facing some difficult decisions. And it comes at the same time the U.S. is dealing with a tight supply of cattle.
“A producer can see a heifer and take advantage of today’s strong cattle prices, or keep that animal to rebuild the farm’s breeding herd,” Ramirez-White says. “Keeping those heifers to rebuild their herd is much more expensive. Farmers have to pay for feed, land, veterinary care, and breeding while giving up the money they could have made by selling the animal.”
The U.S. herd is still slowly rebuilding after years of drought, high feed costs, and other challenges that reduced the number of cattle available for beef production.
What happens after 90 days?
Farmers say the bigger challenge is figuring out what comes next.
Von Ruden believes increasing imports doesn’t address the underlying problems facing American cattle producers.
“We need to look beyond the 90 days. What are we going to do to make sure we have a viable beef industry here in the United States?” Von Ruden wonders.
The bigger job: rebuilding the U.S. beef industry
If bringing more beef into the country isn’t the answer, what is? Ramirez-White says it’s building a domestic beef supply that can better meet consumer demand while allowing cattle producers to stay in business.
This means:
- Helping farmers rebuild their cattle herds
- Creating incentives to keep heifers for breeding
- Expanding regional meat processing
- Strengthening enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act
- Restoring Country of Origin Labeling
- Maintaining consumer confidence in the safety and quality of the U.S. beef supply
“As farmers, we want to produce high quality products at a reasonable price for the consumers,” Von Ruden says. “And we want to be able to support our family and our communities, too.”
The answer isn’t just what happens to beef prices during the next 90 days. It’s also about what happens when the temporary policy ends.
