DepositPhotos image
It’s true that U.S. exports of bulk ag commodities – like wheat and soybeans – for the first ten months of 2024 are running about eight percent below a year ago. However, that’s only for bulk products. USDA economist Bart Kenner says it’s a different story for high-value export products, like meat and dairy products.
“Live animal exports were up ten percent over the same period last year,” Kenner said. “Red meat products were up five percent over last year at $16.9 billion poultry product down one percent from last year, but dairy products up one percent over last year.”
Senator John Hoeven, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (or APHIS) will provide an additional 3 million electronic identification (EID) tags for U.S ranchers.
This comes after Hoeven pressed APHIS officials to ensure that ranchers have the resources necessary to comply with a new EID tag mandate that went into effect on November 5.
The APHIS rule requires “official identification” on certain cattle and bison moved across state lines for the purpose of animal disease traceability, and expanded the requirements for ear tags used as official identification. For animals tagged after the rule’s effective date, the ear tags “must be readable both visually and electronically.”
Hoeven said, “Our ranchers are already facing challenges from weather and high input costs, the last thing they need are additional costs from USDA mandates.”
He included $10 million in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2025 Agriculture Appropriations Bill to explicitly fund the new APHIS tag requirement.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.