A46-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 16, 2003
Ontario Ag Minister Visits Pa, For Trade Talk
(Continued from Page A 42)
Paul Slayton, director of the
Pennsylvania Beef Council,
agreed that “there’s a real need
to open the border” but it is “re
ally the USDA” who has the re
sponsibility to decide.
According to Slayton, it could
have also been a U.S. cow that
turned up with BSE.
While U.S. beef producers are
the group most concerned about
reopening the border, it’s impor
tant to remember that “this situa
tion could be reversed,” Slayton
said.
“There should be very little
concern, if any, about the one
case of mad cow disease in Cana
da,” he said. “Research has con
firmed that it was just one case
and the science was thorough
enough.”
Slayton said the U.S. has “used
up and become pretty current” in
its surplus beef supply in the past
90 days.
“It probably couldn’t be a bet
ter time” to open the border, he
noted.
The USDA has a responsibility
to reestablish beef trade “without
causing undue economic stress
Juniata County Farm Preserved
By Conservancy
PORT ROYAL (Juniata Co.)
On Thursday, a ceremony cele
brated the preservation of anoth
er Juniata County farm.
This 50-acre farm, owned by
Drs. Meecee Baker and Robert
Mikesell, has been protected by
an agricultural conservation ease
ment that keeps the farm avail
able for agricultural uses in per
petuity.
An easement is a legal agree
ment or deed restriction between
a landowner and a government
entity or land trust such as the
Central Pennsylvania Conserven
cy that permanently restricts a
property’s uses to protect its con
servation values; in this case, ag
riculture. Monitored by the Con
servancy once a year, the
easement stays with the land,
even when ownership changes.
on our producers,” Slayton said.
John Enck, director of Penn
sylvania's Animal Health and Di
agnostic Commission, said Penn
sylvania experienced a similar
situation in 2000 when an out
break of avian influenza resulted
in Japan banning U.S. poultry
for six months.
Now, Japan’s refusal to accept
any Canadian beef processed in
the U.S. has become a major fac
tor in U.S. trade negotiations
with Canada.
“The Japanese trade issue is
key to the whole thing,” Enck
said.
According to a recent USDA
statement posted on its Website,
“We do not feel that the Japa
nese government is justified in its
decision to exclude Canadian
beef from our beef and beef prod
ucts exported to Japan. Although
the United States does not believe
such steps are necessary, we are
working to provide the industry a
system that can be used to verify
U.S. beef exports ... we will con
tinue to work to convince Japan
to remove this unnecessary re
quirement.”
The USDA announcement to
Counties, with state funding
may purchase easements on some
of the larger, most productive
farms, but the waiting list is long,
especially for small or average
productivity farms. While land
trusts such as the Central Penn
sylvania Conservancy do not gen
erally pay for easements, there
are still several benefits: The
owner can be assured his land
will be protected and he may
enjoy substantial tax benefits as
well. In addition, out-of-pocket
costs such as surveys, appraisals,
documentation, and legal ex
penses may be reimbursed up to
$5,000 by the Pennsylvania De
partment of Agriculture.
The Central Pennsylvania
Conservancy is a nonprofit land
trust dedicated to the preserva
partially open the border came
Aug. 8 after a close review of the
international standards set by the
International Office of Epizootics
(OIE) the standard-setting or
ganization for animal health for
164 member nations; an exhaus
tive epidemiological investigation
into the case by Canada, during
which no other animals were
found to be infected; and addi
tional risk mitigation measures
put in place by Canada in re
sponse to a review of their inves
tigation by an independent expert
panel.
Veneman said that USDA
weighed these and many other
factors as it evaluated the risk,
including the preventive mea
sures that Canada had in place
prior to the detection of BSE,
such as import controls, feed
bans and surveillance measures
conducted at levels that met or
exceeded the OIE standards.
Based on these determinations,
Veneman said that USDA will no
longer prohibit the importation of
hunter-harvested wild ruminant
products intended for personal
use and it will begin to accept ap
plications for import permits for
tion of lands with natural, scenic,
cultural, and agricultural value.
For additional information on
easements contact your county
conservation district or the Cen
tral Pennsylvania Conservancy at
(717) 233-0221 or cpc@paonli
ne.com.
FARMING, FINANCING
AND WO
TOCETH
Remember when being
efficient was all it took
to be a successful
farmer? With some help
from mother nature, bei
efficient is still the key to successfu
farming. And that, by itself, is a tough job.
Today's farmer has to know financing and marketing as well as
production. And today, as in the past, The Ephrata National
Bank is here to help.
We've been financing local farming since 1881 and plan to for
years to come.
Next time you need some honest advice on financing your farming
operation, see your friends at The Ephrata National Bank.
To learn more, call Bob Zook at 717-721-5220
certain products from Canada,
including:
• Boneless sheep or goat meat
from animals under 12 months of
age;
• Boneless bovine meat from cat
tle under 30 months of age;
• Boneless Veal (meat) from
calves that were 36 weeks of age
or younger at slaughter;
• Fresh or frozen bovine liver;
• Vaccines for veterinary med
icine for non-ruminant use; and
• Pet products and feed ingredi
ents that contain processed ani
mal protein and tallow of non-ru
minant sources when produced
in facilities with dedicated manu
facturing lines.
Veneman noted that the single
BSE case in Canada and its im
pact on global trade call for an
international dialogue on BSE to
develop more practical, consis
tent guidance to countries re
garding the resumption of trade
with countries that have reported
cases of BSE.
Veneman said that the United
States, along with Mexico and
Canada, have requested that the
OIE include such a dialogue in
an upcoming meeting of interna
tional experts in September.
USDA Permitting Process
Hunters can immediately begin
bringing wild ruminant meat
products intended for their per
sonal use into the United States,
but will need a “Veterinary Serv
ices Special Permit for the Im
portation of Hunter-Harvested
Wild Ruminant Meat,” along
with one of the following: a valid
Canadian export certificate for
game meat, or a copy of a valid
hunting license or a valid hunting
tag. The permit can be down
loaded from http://
www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/
We've stood the test of time...
Ephrata National Bank
You'll fed the difference.
www.eplu^anationalbank.com
bse/bse.html or obtained by call
ing the APHIS National Center
for 'lmport and Export at (301)
734-3277.
Certain other previously
banned ruminant meat products
may be imported with a “United
States Veterinary Permit for Im
portation and Transportation of
Controlled Material.” The appli
cation can be completed on line
at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/
import—export.htm or can be
downloaded from http://
www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie , or
can be obtained by calling (301)
734-3277.
Veneman said that a rulemak
ing process would begin immedi
ately for the importation of live
ruminants and ruminant prod
ucts.
In a statement released by Na
tional Farmers Union this week,
President Dave Frederickson
said, “Farmers Union continues
to monitor the steps the adminis
tration is taking to keep the
threat of bovine spongiform en
cephalopathy (BSE) out of the
United States. We commend the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
for working to assure Japan, our
number one beef customer, that
beef shipments to Japan will
come only from U.S. cattle.”
Frederickson also said, “The
secretary should immediately do
the same for U.S. consumers by
implementing the mandatory
country-of-origin labeling law
passed by Congress and signed
into law by President Bush last
year.
“Before USDA moves to re
open the border for live cattle,”
said Frederickson, “we urge the
secretary of agriculture to imple
ment mandatory country-of-ori
gin meat labeling.
Mmher BMC