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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) North Dakota Farmers Union President Mark Watne and National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson issued the following response to a letter from the meatpacking industry sent today to Congress.

The letter calls for Congress to gut the Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) law. It also
proposes to dismantle protections for producers under the Grain Inspection Packers and
Stockyards Administration Act. Finally, the letter threatens to oppose the farm bill unless its demands are met.

Watne says, “COOL provides valuable information to consumers on the origin of their unprocessed meat products and allows U.S. ranchers to differentiate their products in the
marketplace,” He added, “the meatpacking industry should not be allowed to hold the
farm bill hostage in an attempt to undermine COOL, which is already being implemented
in retail outlets across the country.”

NFU President Roger Johnson says, “NFU strongly disagrees with this letter and supports the livestock provisions in the emerging farm bill, which are beneficial to family farmers and ranchers. The groups that signed the letter do not represent farmers and ranchers. They represent the vertically integrated packers, and they clearly do not have the interests of family farmers and ranchers in mind.

Johnson says, “the farm bill conference includes several strong positives for livestock. Permanent baseline funding for livestock programs is part of the bill, including nearly $5 billion in disaster funds. The Livestock Forage Program is also set to be improved in this farm bill, as are the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and various livestock health initiatives.