To my bitter disappointment, the many efforts at reform of the cattle markets over the past 16 years have been frustrated by meatpackers and their minions. Chief minion has been the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). This organization is believed by many to be on the side of beef cattle producers. However, it has opposed every major market reform initiative; most notably the ban on packer ownership of cattle, Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and putting the teeth Read More …
The second “final” report on the USDA OIG Audit of the Beef Checkoff was released the end of January. An earlier seventeen page report was released in March of 2013 but was shortly withdrawn for “additional audit work” under withering charges of whitewash and cover-up. It was generally accepted that the audit was prompted by the disturbing findings in an Audit in 2010, ordered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB). You may recall that the CBB ordered audit Read More …
A letter dated November 4, 2013 from USDA Office of Inspector General contained some very welcome news, specifically: “…your FOIA appeal is granted”. For some time OCM’s legitimate request for material relating to a particular OIG audit had met with what could best be described as evasion and stalling. But, unlike previous correspondence from this agency, this letter was signed personally by the Inspector General, Phyllis K. Fong. Background: Back in July of 2010, an outside independent audit Read More …