Posted May 13, 2014
The National Farmers Union (NFU) recently submitted additional testimony to the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development and Credit, following an April 30, 2014 hearing on the state of the livestock industry, according to an article by KXLO-KLCM available here. The Pig Site also reported on the story here.
NFU President Roger Johnson’s comments respond to discussion on Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) during the hearing. The additional testimony is available here.
“Witnesses and congressional [COOL] opponents insist that COOL hold no value to consumers, but NFU knows that is simply not true,” said Chandler Goule, NFU senior vice president of programs. “A 2003 Colorado State University study confirms that consumers are willing to pay a premium to know the origin of their food. Furthermore, COOL compliance costs amount to less than one-third of a cent per pound of meat, which certainly doesn’t justify the protests of packers and processors reaping billions of dollars of profit.”
Only two of the seven witnesses testifying at the April hearing represented strictly farmer or rancher members, whereas the other five witnesses represented packer-producer organizations or meat companies.
“Congress acted in favor of COOL by including it in the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills and demonstrated support for COOL by defeating an effort to undermine it in the 2014 Farm Bill. All parties in the livestock sector would be well-served to look toward a future in which consumers wish to know more about their food – an objective fulfilled in part by COOL,” said Johnson.
For more information on Country of Origin Labeling, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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