06/08/06 Beef back on the table

Beef back on the table. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Due in part to proactive beef checkoff efforts, Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Viet Nam have resumed U.S. beef imports. Trade officials believe South Korea may begin importing boneless beef from U.S. cattle this summer. A former exporter to 133 foreign countries, the United States lost 72 world markets to the BSE ban in 2003. But as restrictions lift, U.S. producers are growing more optimistic about beef's return to the international dinner table. That`s according to Myron Williams, a South Dakota producer and former chairman of the Federation of State Beef Council. WILLIAMS: Well we're still striving to get all markets open and anytime we add one that's a big benefit. And be it Peru or Korea, it could be next month, Japan possibly in July; every time we add one it's optimism to the market. Just over six-hundred-ninety-six-thousand ($696,000) additional checkoff dollars are being used this year to fund Asian market "re-launch" efforts, such as retail promotions, to keep U.S. beef top of mind as more global markets re-open. But the beef industry isn't banking on exports alone. Williams says checkoff dollars are also going to fund national advertising efforts to boost U.S. beef sales this summer and fall. WILLIAMS: In the meantime we're extending the summer grilling program over into the fall past Labor Day because we realize grilling is important in the summer months and if the weathers good people will feel good and they buy our product and they grill it and eat it and enjoy it. So we need to do what we can to protect ourselves and move our product and we think extending the advertising program will do that. Despite industry challenges - Williams says evolving global markets - particularly in the Pacific Rim countries - present a world of new possibilities for the U.S. beef industry. WILLIAMS: If we can get the exports open, that's be the biggest frontier in new business that we've ever seen and I'm excited about it and can't wait for it to happen so we can get on to good times. The Beef Checkoff Program, established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill, assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, and a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB), which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. For more information, visit www.beefboard.org. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.