R-CALF USA is asking the Bush Administration and Congress to take immediate steps to prevent the harm the current national financial crisis could wreak on the U.S. food production system. According to R-CALF President Max Thornsberry - tens of thousands of cow/calf producers have seen prices for their calves fall by more than 15-dollars per hundredweight from August. For each 500-pound calf - he notes that’s more than 75-dollars. He says those losses - when combined with higher fuel and feed costs - will have a disastrous long-term impact on the ability to maintain an independent cattle production infrastructure in the U.S.

In a letter to U.S. Ag Secretary Ed Schafer and the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Agriculture Committees - R-CALF outlines six market-based solutions Congress and the Administration could implement to mitigate further damage to the industry. The first is temporarily halting the influx of Canadian live cattle imports. R-CALF says this is contributing to the nation’s inability to recapture its lost export markets and causing price-depressing supplies. Second is temporarily halting the influx of Mexican cattle. R-CALF also asks for stepped-up enforcement of the country-of-origin labeling law that is now in effect.

The final suggestions include allowing private meat packers to voluntarily test for BSE - adopting a more stringent import policy and publicly announcing that further concentration or consolidation in the U.S. cattle and beef industries will not be tolerated.

According to Thornsberry’s letter - these measures can be implemented swiftly - are market-based - would not require government expenditures and would significantly mitigate the profound, negative effects the current financial crisis is having on the profitability and viability of U.S. cattle producers.