Montana rancher Jim Peterson was elected today as the new U.S. Meat Export Federation chairman for the coming year, succeeding Iowa pork producer Jon Caspers. In addition to his ranching operation near Buffalo, Mont., Peterson is the majority leader of the Montana State Senate and Associate Dean of Agriculture at Montana State University. He was formerly the executive vice president of Montana Stockgrowers Association and executive secretary of the Montana Public Land Council. Raised on a family operation in Montana, Peterson has been involved in cattle feeding, farming, ranching, agricultural banking and beef industry associations for more than three decades.
When addressing USMEF members at this week’s USMEF Strategic Planning Conference in Denver, Peterson said limited market access for U.S. meat exports is costing the industry billions of dollars, and that resolving these access issues would be a tremendous boost for livestock producers.
Audio Link: Peterson Comments on Market Access
Audio Clip #1: :21 Outcue: (… has to be done.)
But Peterson urged the U.S. industry to be more receptive to voluntary measures that will help address overseas consumers’ concerns about source verification and food safety, offering some examples from his recent visit to Japan, China and South Korea.
Audio Clip #2: :48 Outcue: (… shovel-ready stimulus project.)
Other USMEF officers elected Friday include Keith Miller, a farmer-stockman from Great Bend, Kan., who is the new USMEF chairman-elect. Miller owns a commercial cow/calf operation and farms more than 7,500 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and milo. He is an active Farm Bureau member, having served as president of the Barton County Farm Bureau and on the Kansas Farm Bureau board of directors.
Indiana pork producer Danita Rodibaugh is the new USMEF vice chair. Rodibaugh's family farm operation near Rensselaer, Ind., produces corn, soybeans, wheat and purebred seedstock swine. She became active with USMEF as a member of the board of directors of the National Pork Producers Council and as a past president of the National Pork Board.
Steve Isaf, president of Atlanta-based Interra International, is USMEF’s new secretary-treasurer. Isaf has served on the USMEF Executive Committee for three years and is immediate past chairman of the USMEF Exporter Committee.
Other news from the USMEF Strategic Planning Conference is available at www.usmef.org. If you have any questions, Please don’t hesitate to contact :
Joe Schuele
Communications Director
U.S. Meat Export Federation
jschuele@usmef.org
303-226-7309