Livestock Industry Faces New Serious Challenges

www.agrinews-pubs.com
Nat Williams
2010-01-29

ST. LOUIS — Animal agriculture in the United States is being threatened. And that means all farmers are under attack.

That was the message conveyed by a number of speakers here last week who addressed the challenges facing livestock producers.

Doug Goehring, commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, pulled no punches in discussing the issue.

“If you’re in grain agriculture you need to be very, very concerned about what’s happening in animal agriculture,” he said. “Let’s face it: Animal agriculture is our No. 1 customer.”

The venue was the three-day Missouri Governor’s Conference on Agriculture. The conference brought speakers and participants together to discuss various issues facing the industry.

Max Thornsberry, president of the board of the producer association, Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, decried the state of the livestock industry in the United States.

“We’ve lost 90 percent of our hog producers, we’ve lost almost 60 percent of our beef producers and our dairies are being devastated by the minute,” Thornsberry said. “We need to recognize the significance of food and the significance of agriculture for this country’s well being.”

Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who operates the same farm his great-grandfather purchased in 1869, noted his children have gone into other occupations. The continuing shrinkage of the on-farm population carries with it increasing problems, he believes.

Half the dairies in Missouri have closed over the past few decades, he said. The state has lost 4 million cows since 2006. And he noted that his county of residence does not have one operating dairy.

Yet Missouri is not unique.

“I travel all over the United States, and I see this happening everywhere,” Thornsberry said. “I’ve been in countries involved in World War II.

“And every country I’ve been to where those people starved in the last 60 years has respect for agriculture and respect for those that are in agriculture and are doing everything possible to make sure those people stay on the farm so they can feed themselves.”

Along with economic problems, animal activists pose a significant threat to the industry, according to Robert Boggs, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. He said groups such as the United States Humane Society gain the upper hand by using hard-hitting advertising.

“They want to reduce everything to a 30-second sound bite,” Boggs said. “They want to show you those emotional pictures. They don’t want to explain all the issues like biosecurity and what you do with horses when no one wants them.”

Those in the livestock industry aren’t without weapons, however. Boggs pointed to work done in his state to get farmers’ story out. One method involves joining forces with other interests.

“It’s not a hopeless situation,” he said. “The agricultural community went to (sportsmen’s groups) and said, ‘It’s us today, it could be you tomorrow.’”

Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and well-known author of works associated with animals and livestock production, said those in the industry should be proactive.

An example is the campaign against horse slaughterhouses. Only two remain in the United States — both in Texas — due partly to public outcry.

“We should be talking about a fate worse than slaughter, worse than even a bad slaughterhouse,” Grandin said.

The Ohio Farm Bureau set up a full-time communications office because of the need to communicate agriculture’s interests to the public. Youth are also being told of the threat to the future of agriculture and encouraged to become active in its defense.

“Every 4H chapter that I know of, every FFA chapter in Ohio was given the opportunity to get involved,” Boggs said. “Those tens of thousands of 4H and FFA kids in Ohio saw their future flashing before their eyes, and they went out and they were energized like I’ve never seen anybody be energized before.

“So it’s not a hopeless situation. But you can’t boil it down to a campaign commercial. The people have to feel they have something at stake here, such as safe food, such as biosecurity.”

While opposition looms, opportunity also beckons. Doug Goehring, commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, pointed to studies showing that the global middle class — estimated to be at about 750 million people — will increase to more than 3 billion in two to three decades.

“You want to look at opportunity?” Goehring said. “Meat is one of the things (middle-class citizens) look at consuming. We have a very good opportunity in this country to provide that to the world.”




Return to Article List