Daschle Seeking Curbs By ITC
On Cattle Imports From Canada

HURON, S.D. —(AP)— Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said he is urging the International Trade Commission to take action against what cattle producers claim is a flood of illegal beef and cattle imports from Canada.

Farmers and ranchers in South Dakota are concerned about the increasing amount of agriculture imports, especially beef and live cattle, coming into the country.

In two weeks, South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow will order state authorities to stop truckloads of Canadian meat and grain imports at South Dakota's borders.

"It is urgent that the ITC investigate this matter thoroughly and take meaningful action against Canada if it is engaging in anti-competitive behavior, particularly if that behavior is constraining our producers' ability to raise and market products in a fair and competitive environment," Daschle wrote in a letter last Friday to ITC chairman Lynn Bragg.

Daschle also said the Rancher-Cattlemen Action Legal Foundation, or R-CALF, is collecting evidence that shows imports from Canada are unfairly subsidized and having a damaging impact on the domestic cattle industry.

R-CALF is in the process of raising $1.5 million to file a petition with the ITC for relief from the massive inflow of Canadian cattle imports. About 10 R-CALF meetings were held in South Dakota during August, drawing huge crowds.

Meanwhile, governor candidate Bernie Hunhoff says he will have the state help ranchers file the petition.

If Hunhoff is elected governor, he will use $100,000 from the state's Futures Fund to help pay for the legal effort. And he is asking governors of other beef states to help the R-CALF effort.

Daschle said he supports Janklow's border plan because the state needs to send a strong message to Canada.

"I support it because we need to send as many messages to Canada as we can that we will not tolerate the unfair trading practices that they are responsible for," he said.

In related if somewhat contradictory developments, it appears the way is clear for Montana feeder cattle to be sold to feedlots in Canada.

It has been nearly a year since an agreement was made to eliminate trade barriers between Canada and the United States.

"I got a call from a feedyard this week," said Jim Peterson, executive vice president of the Montana Stock Growers Association. "They were looking for producers who might be interested in selling north this year. They (the Canadians) are offering prices comparable to the U.S. price for feeders."

Montana producers will have an advantage because freight rates to Alberta would be less than to the feedlots in the Midwest, Peterson said.

"They are thinking that trucks going south could haul back to Canada," he said. "Now they are coming home empty."

Ben Thorlakson, of Airdrie, Alberta, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, said Friday that he thought Montana feeder cattle will now begin to come to Alberta for finishing.

"Now that people know that the way is clear, there are cattle just across the border within trucking distance," he said. "All the impediments have been cleared away. Cattle will flow based on the economics."

The Northwest Pilot Project, a joint effort between Montana and Canadian cattlemen to reduce animal health restrictions on both sides of the border, was to take effect in October 1997. But a "fine print interpretation" by AgCanada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, made it economically prohibitive for Alberta feedlots to buy Montana cattle last year.

A re-written and approved protocol is now in effect, allowing Montana cattle into Canada without brucellosis, tuberculosis and anaplasmos testing.

Canadian female cattle can move into the United States without a brucellosis vaccine.