Washington Insider -- Tuesday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Despite Price Benefit, Schools Buying Far Less of Lean, Finely Textured Beef

U.S. school feeding programs reduced purchases of lean, finely textured beef by more than 94% in fiscal 2013, according to USDA data. Specifically, schools bought 392,000 pounds of ground beef containing the substance through the National School Lunch Program in the fiscal year that ended September 2013, down from at least 7 million pounds the previous year.

The reason most often cited is that schools did not want to include in their hamburgers a product that some media outlets labeled as "pink slime."

Lately, however, Americans are paying the most ever for beef amid shrinking cattle herds, and that may set the stage for lean, finely textured beef to make a comeback. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that average prices for ground beef climbed to a record $3.81 per pound in April, the highest since at least 1984.

Some media outlets already are reporting that higher beef prices are overcoming consumers' resistance to lower-priced lean, finely textured beef. School lunch administrators on the look-out for ways to cut expenses likely will return to the product once local objections die down.

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EU Continues Internal Debate on Biotech Crops

Nearly 20 years on, member states of the European Union remain both divided and skeptical about the safety of genetically modified organisms. But officials last week took steps that could result in at least a few EU nations opening up their markets and fields to biotech crops.

A vote by EU member state representatives taken in a closed meeting in Brussels last Wednesday indicated a near unanimous support for the proposal of widely allowing GMO crops to be grown across the EU. The proposal likely would result in some individual member states continuing to prohibit the growing of GM crops within their borders, but the European Commission expects a boost in GMO cropping in the EU overall.

Next week, environment ministers are scheduled to vote on the proposal at the next Environment Council in Luxembourg. Once the Environment Council approves the proposal, as is expected, it then will be up to the new European Parliament to take the next steps. There are predictions that the plan could go into effect this year, but given the slow pace of many EU decisions, 2015 may be a more realistic target.

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Washington Insider: Urban View of GMO Labels

Since the so called "war on agricultural technology" has generally been designed and sponsored by urban food elitists, it was somewhat surprising to see an East Coast urban daily, the Washington Post, break ranks and actually do a little thinking about the issue. The result was surprising and very clear.

Perhaps the most startling thing was the opening, a straightforward, declarative statement that genetically modified crops have increased the productivity and improved the lives of farmers — and the people who depend on them — all over the world. Now, they are banned in two counties in Oregon, the editorial continues, and, these counties "are not the only ones going in the wrong direction. Several places in California, Hawaii, Maine and Washington state also have bans in place, though the Oregon counties are the first in which GMOs had been actively cultivated."

Farmers there have a year to remove the genetically modified crops from their fields and several states also have or are considering a requirement that food containing genetically modified crops be labeled, the editorial notes.

Then, the gloves come off. "There is no mainstream scientific evidence showing that foods containing GMOs are any more or less harmful for people to consume than anything else in the supermarket, despite decades of development and use," the Post says. "In addition, doubters have the option of simply buying food bearing the 'organic' label. Thus, there is no need for the government to stigmatize products with a label that suggests the potential for harm. Outright bans, meanwhile, are even worse than gratuitous labeling."

The editorial struggles to define the driving "issue" of this debate, and concludes that it is not just one of agribusiness profits, though that is involved. It involves the potential loss of a wide array of important global benefits that are only beginning to be seen.

These include the potential to create crops that are easier to grow, better for the environment and more nutrient-rich; "smart genetic modification" is one important tool available to sustain the world's growing multitudes. Making good on that promise, the Post thinks, will require both an openness to the technology and serious investment in GMOs within wealthy countries. The prospect of helping to feed the starving and improve the lives of people across the planet should not be nipped because of the "self-indulgent fretting of first-world activists."

As with any field, there's room for reasonable caution and study using real science. But there is nothing reasonable about anti-GMO fundamentalism, the Post asserts. Voters and their representatives should worry less about "Frankenfood" and more about the vast global challenges that genetically modified crops can help address.

No doubt, the Post expects an outpouring of advocacy-group vitriol now but it is unlikely that this deluge will include any new information. Clearly, the Post is challenging this state of affairs, at the same time it works to define the high stakes involved — a fight producers should watch carefully as it evolves, Washington Insider believes.

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