Editorial: Beef exports ride on a double standard
Summary: Let’s hope Japan, largest foreign buyer of U.S. beef, proves more open-minded than America.Key to prosperity for Montana’s massive livestock industry is a speedy resumption of beef exports, which pretty much shut down following discovery, last month, of a Holstein in Washington infected with mad cow disease. Although 90 percent of the beef produced in America is consumed within our shores, the 10 percent that’s exported is important. Exports not only generate $3 billion annually, but they also use up some of our nation’s excess capacity to produce beef. Without exports, there’ll be a glut of beef competing for a spot on your dinner table. Beef eaters might find some bargains at the butcher’s, but beef producers would see profits plummet.
Source: Missoulian Opinion
20 January 2004
1 minute read
