For the Week Ending April 29, 2011
Washington, April 29, 2011 -
COMMENTS ON MEXICAN TRUCKING PROGRAM SUBMITTED
In comments submitted April 27, NPPC expressed strong support for a new pilot program for long-haul trucking from Mexico. The program is being implemented by the United States to comply with a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement. NPPC supports the program because it will: (1) terminate Mexico’s retaliatory tariffs on 99 U.S. products, including an important pork item, valued at $2.4 billion; (2) bring the United States into conformity with its international trade obligations and re-establish its credibility when insisting that countries live up to their obligations under agreements with the United States; (3) ensure the safety of U.S. roads through strict requirements on Mexican trucks and truckers; and (4) allow U.S. pork producers and producers of the other products hit by the retaliatory tariffs to regain their competitive positions and market shares in Mexico and recover the jobs lost because of the decline in exports.
WAGSTROM NAMED CHIEF VETERINARIAN FOR NPPC
NPPC has named Dr. Liz Wagstrom as its chief veterinarian; she will begin her duties May 16. Wagstrom will be located in NPPC’s Washington, D.C., office. Wagstrom, an internationally recognized expert on pig health, food safety and zoonoses, most recently was associate professor with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Animal Health and Food Safety. Prior to that, she worked for the National Pork Board, first as director of Veterinary Services and more recently as assistant vice president for Science and Technology. Wagstrom also served as an epidemiologist and public health veterinarian for the Minnesota Department of Health. Wagstrom received a bachelor’s degree in animal science and agricultural economics from the University of Minnesota and earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine and master’s degree in veterinary preventive medicine from Iowa State University. She is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.
NPPC MEETS WITH MEXICAN OFFICALS OVER REGIONALIZATION
NPPC Vice President and Counsel for International Affairs Nick Giordano met with representatives of the Mexican government to discuss the regionalization of certain Mexican states as free of Classical Swine Fever (CSF). Efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), with the support of NPPC, have continued to make sure Mexico has the necessary animal health infrastructure and laboratory and disease management protocols to declare certain Mexican states free of CSF. NPPC supports Mexico’s efforts to export pork and pork products to the United States from regions that APHIS determines pose no risk of disease transmission. NPPC supports the principle of regionalization as a way of facilitating trade with areas free of contagious swine diseases and will continue to work with APHIS to address Mexico’s animal health concerns.
WHAT’S AHEAD
NPPC PRESIDENT TO TESTIFY ON STATE OF THE PORK INDUSTRY
NPPC President Doug Wolf, a pork producer from Lancaster, Wis., May 4 will testify on the state of the U.S. pork industry before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry.
WORLD PORK EXPO JUNE 8-10
NPPC’s annual World Pork Expo will be held June 8-10 at the Iowa State fairgrounds in Des Moines. For more information about and media registration for the world’s largest pork industry trade show and exhibition, click here.
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