05/12/05 NCBA President to speak in Pasco

05/12/05 NCBA President to speak in Pasco

Washington Ag May 12, 2005 The impact of the border closure with Canada on the cattle industry is the focus of an educational seminar being held Monday in Pasco at the Red Lion Inn from 11 a.m. to two p.m. The event is sponsored by the Washington Cattle Feeders Association and one of the speakers will be Jim McAdams, President of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. McAdams: "I can give them a litigation update which says we are waiting and seeing, but I also can explain why we think it is so important to get that border open and return to normalcy as rapidly as we can, international trade. Basing trade on sound science rather than politics." McAdams says the potential loss of packer capacity in the Pacific Northwest due to the continued closure of the border with Canada is a huge concern. McAdams: "If those plants close down those feedlots don't have a ready outlet for those cattle and they will have to ship them back to the Midwest so they will be freight-away. Those cattle will be discounted and the cow-calf producers in the Northwest will have the same challenge." But beyond issues faced by the industry, when he looks at the recent growth in beef demand, McAdams is optimistic. McAdams: "So all we need to do is quit shooting ourselves in the foot. Continue working together the best we can. It just makes me real optimistic about our future." I'm Bob Hoff.
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