Brownfield Ag News: “[Wisconsin farmer Mike Yager] says it would make more sense to help American farmers than to increase Argentine beef sales.”
Paging Derrick Van Orden: What happened to America first?
While the Trump administration announces their plan to mass-import Argentinian beef and throw Wisconsin cattle ranchers under the bus, Van Orden is completely silent despite his fellow Republicans speaking out.
But not Derrick Van Orden, who failed to join his Republican colleagues in pushing back against this step – even as Mineral Point dairy farmers speak out to suggest a different solution to increase beef supplies that would *actually help* American farmers and ranchers and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association *opposes* the plan.
Van Orden must answer: Do you agree with Trump’s plan to bail out Argentina while leaving Wisconsin farmers and ranchers out in the cold?
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Argentina-First Derrick Van Orden has nothing to say about bailing out Argentina while leaving Wisconsin’s cattle and soybean farmers out in the cold. Van Orden sides with Argentinian farmers and is doing nothing to stand up for Wisconsin.”
Read more:
Brownfield Ag News: Dairy farmer suggests alternative to Argentine beef imports
- A dairy farmer is opposed to importing beef from Argentina. Mike Yager farms near Mineral Point in southwestern Wisconsin. He tells Brownfield there’s a way to increase beef supplies while helping to solve another problem. “I think that maybe we need to encourage sales of dairy cows, strictly going to slaughter. That will put beef on the market and ultimately, take care of this supposed surplus of milk.”
- Yager says milk prices are not very good because processors have a surplus of milk and butterfat. “Because, what does a one percent surplus do to our price? It drops it three, four, five bucks a hundredweight.”
- Yager is also concerned about bringing live cattle in from south of the border because of New World Screwworm infestations in Mexico.
- Yager says dairy margins will get worse when feed prices begin to rise. He says that coupled with lower or no milk premiums and higher processor make allowances are reasons raising beef on dairy has been popular. He says culling some milk cows would bring farmers additional income, and tightening the milk supply should improve milk prices.
- Yager says it would make more sense to help American farmers than to increase Argentine beef sales.
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall: “NCBA’s family farmers and ranchers have numerous concerns with importing more Argentinian beef to lower prices for consumers. This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices. Additionally, Argentina has a deeply unbalanced trade relationship with the U.S. In the past five years Argentina has sold more than $801 million of beef into the U.S. market. By comparison, the U.S. has sold just over $7 million worth of American beef to Argentina. Argentina also has a history of foot-and-mouth disease, which if brought to the United States, could decimate our domestic livestock production.”
