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So, the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Shortcourse had speaker after speaker with their whips out for COOL (mandatory country of origin labeling). Livestock Weekly of August 21 had a long feature on the meeting. Reckon there were no qualified honest-to-goodness cowmen or cowgirls who could have discussed the value of COOL to the cow-calf operator and to the consumer? But these folks who are loyal to the cow-calf business were not invited to speak — reckon why? I for one am darned tired of the old, trite statements from the "leaders" in the beef industry who are speaking on behalf of either order buyers, feeders or the packers. All I want is an organization to speak for me as a cow-calf producer. We all know the other folks in the beef chain are not going to help us. TSCRA, TCFA, NCBA and others of their ilk have proved themselves strictly handmaidens for those who want to make cow-calf producers sharecroppers for the big boys. One other note re the Beef Shortcourse at A&M — COOL came about because of one petite, feisty Congresswoman from California named Mary Bono. Ms. Bono, widow of Sonny Bono of entertainment fame, worked with California fruit and vegetable growers, and those of us in the beef business who strongly believe consumers want COOL. Ms. Bono, who has since remarried, was tireless in her efforts to get COOL passed in the House. She saw the handwriting on the wall and demanded a ROLL CALL vote on COOL. When the do-nothings in the House of Representatives had to cast a RECORD VOTE, COOL passed the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly. (The first vote on her bill was a voice vote — it failed miserably.) All the while, NCBA, TSCRA, Texas Cattle Feeders and others were diligently trying to undermine the legislation. Ms. Bono worked with R-Calf, many state cattle associations and those of us who are just independents wanting COOL passed. (Two-thirds of consumers in surveys say they want to know where their meat comes from). Ms. Bono used not only cow-calf producers but also consumer groups to lean on House members to vote for COOL when it went to a roll call vote. If the dollar a head checkoff millions were to be used only to promote U.S. beef, what a difference that would make. But the self-perceived "leaders" don’t want that, either. Their "vision" seems to be a one-world agriculture that would wipe out the independent cow-calf operator in the U.S. I don’t want to be a contract chicken farmer for Bo Pilgrim or for Don Tyson. Do you? Horace McQueen |
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