News Update
January 15, 2016
Angus Events at the
National Western Stock Show
Angus events wrap up today with the Super Roll of Victory Female Show and tomorrow with the Pen and Carload shows at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colo. For coverage of the event, direct your browser to http://www.angus.org/showresults/denver/2016/schedule.html and to the Association’s Facebook page.
Cattlemen Testify to the Importance
of the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
On Jan. 14, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) hosted a hearing entitled Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement: Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors. Kevin Kester, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Policy Division chair, testified before the ITC, stressing the importance of TPP for the cattle industry.
“We have a very mature market in the United States, but 96% of the world’s population lives outside U.S. borders,” said Kester, a cattle producer from California. “With a growing middle class overseas demanding a higher-quality diet, we need strong trade agreements like TPP in place to level the playing field and allow us access to those consumers who are asking for our product.”
The TPP is a multi-lateral trade agreement negotiated by the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Canada and Mexico. The biggest advantage for cattle producers is the increased access to the Japanese market. In 2014, the U.S. exported beef worth $1.6 billion into Japan at a 38.5% tariff. Once TPP is implemented, that tariff rate will phase down to 9% over 15 years, with a significant cut in the first year.
For more information, please view the full NCBA news release online.
TPP Will Not Meet Inflated Promises, Cautions NFU
Like numerous trade deals that came before it, the TPP will fail to deliver promised job, economic and trade growth, according to the National Farmers Union (NFU).
NFU President Roger Johnson testified before the U.S. ITC Jan. 13 and warned that TPP will ultimately disappoint rural America because it is modeled after the failed agreements of the past.
“Unfortunately for this nation, when it comes to these enormous trade deals, the list of promises is quite long but the list of actual deliverables is often very short,” he said. “Instead of helping curb the U.S. trade deficit, agreements like the TPP are actually making it worse.”
The U.S. trade deficit soared to $508 billion in 2014, up 6% from the previous year, despite trade deals with 20 countries.
“Collectively, these massive trade deals have done immense damage to the economy, draining economic growth and jobs from American families,” he explained. “That is why the primary goal of these trade pacts should be to achieve an overall balance of trade, and on that standard, these deals are failing.”
For more information, please view the full NFU news release online.
Plague-riddled Prairie Dogs a
Model for Infectious Disease Spread
Every now and then, colonies of prairie dogs are wiped out by plague, an infectious disease most often associated with the Black Death of the 14th century.
Plague doesn’t usually kill people these days, but it’s alive and well among the millions of ground-dwelling rodents of Colorado and other western states, notably the black-tailed prairie dog. They’re resilient critters, though: following wholesale destruction of colonies, they seem to repopulate with a vengeance.
Colorado State University (CSU) biologists say this sporadic ebb and flow of prairie dog plague is an ideal model for the study of rare infectious zoonotic disease — disease that can jump from wildlife to humans — like MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and Ebola.
Plague, in all its terrible forms, is caused by the Yersinia Pestis bacterium, usually spread through flea bites. Last year in Colorado, there were a handful of human cases, including at least two deaths.
A multi-year, CSU-led study that involved trapping and testing thousands of prairie dogs across the Pawnee National Grassland, and tens of thousands of their plague-carrying fleas, was conducted by CSU biologists Daniel Salkeld and Michael Antolin, and is published online Jan. 13 in BioScience.
For more information, please view the full release online.
Agricultural Business Council to
Honor Three Agribusiness Leaders
On March 10, at the Chamber of Commerce Board Room in historic Union Station, the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City will honor three of the region’s leading business figures who have been civic champions for agriculture in separate but very key issue areas in our region.
“These individuals have had a positive and lasting effect on our community. They are strong examples of what being an advocate for agriculture can accomplish,” said Cliff Becker, chairman of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City.
The 2016 Award for Agricultural Leadership and Excellence, named in honor of the late Jay B. Dillingham, will be awarded to the Honorable Kit Bond, former U.S. Senator, Missouri; Bud Hertzog, Lee’s Summit Animal Hospital; and Russ Weathers, CEO, Agriculture Future of America.
The March 10, event will be hosted at the Chamber of Commerce Board Room in Union Station at 11:30 a.m. for networking and noon for lunch. Watch www.agbizkc.com for more information.
For more information, please view the full release online.
Apple Co-founder, Former Ford CEO to Speak at ONE:
The Alltech Ideas Conference
The king of design and innovation, Apple’s technologically has set the tone for the world, and its global revolution began when Steve Wozniak, a young engineer with a penchant for computer tinkering, met an even younger guy named Steve Jobs who was interning at his company, Hewlett-Packard. It was a fortuitous meeting of complementary geniuses, computer wizardry and business acumen.
In 1975, Jobs and Wozniak respectively sold off their Volkswagen microbus and Hewlett-Packard calculator for a little more than $1,000 in capital funds. They set up shop in Jobs’ parents’ garage, effectively launching the company that would forever change the world through personal computers, tablets, iPods and iPhones.
Alltech will welcome Wozniak to its main stage on Tuesday, May 24, at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, an event dedicated to inspiring innovation.
Wozniak will be preceded on the main plenary stage by the former president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., Alan Mulally. Mulally will join author and businessman Seth M. Siegel and title-winning University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Coach John Calipari as the opening keynote speakers on Monday, May 23.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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