By DOUG SCHMITZ
Iowa Correspondent

DES MOINES, Iowa — Aside from seminars, tours and exhibits, pork producers attending the 2011 World Pork Expo had discussions concerning international trade issues – namely Mandatory U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (M-COOL), the GISPA (USDA Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration) rule and trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

“Other countries are also drafting free trade agreements with these countries, and if we do not move on these agreements, we will lose trade we already have there,” Doug Wolf, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) president, said.
Based on a study conducted by Dermott Hayes, Iowa State University agricultural economist, NPPC officials said U.S. free-trade agreements with the three countries would “generate more than 10,000 U.S. jobs and add more than $770 million in pork sales annually” once the deals are fully implemented.
In addition, Nick Giordano, NPPC vice president and counsel, international affairs, told Bloomberg at the Expo “the agreements would eliminate tariffs on pork products shipped to those nations and add more than $11 to the price producers receive per hog.”

The debate over M-COOL was also discussed as it moves through the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement process.

A delegation representing Manitoba Pork Council (MPC) met with NPPC representatives and various state pork organizations at the Expo. Sam Carney, an Adair, Iowa, pork producer and NPPC past president who currently chairs its Trade Policy Committee, chose not to comment on their meeting since the WTO ruling hadn’t been officially announced.

During the three-day Expo, there were also renewed calls to reconsider the GIPSA rule, which “facilitates the marketing of livestock, poultry, meat, cereals, oilseeds and related agricultural products, and promotes fair and competitive trading practices for the overall benefit of consumers and American agriculture,” according to the USDA.

“The relationships between the hog producers in Canada and the U.S. are very good at this time,” said Karl Kynoch of the MPC. “I think a lot of that’s due to the fact that a lot of Canadian producers are coming south and talking to the American producers, and getting some communication going on back and forth.
”I think the big thing that’s really changed over the last seven or eight years that we’ve been coming down here is a lot of producers realize, whether you’re in the U.S. or whether you’re in Canada, we’re all dealing with the same issues.”