Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU) is asking Nebraska Senators Fischer and Ricketts to support Sen. Rounds’ efforts to include mandatory MCOOL (Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling) into the next Farm Bill. NeFU is asking meat producers and meat consumers to call, write, or email Senators and Ricketts to include MCOOL in the next Farm Bill.
NeFU President John Hansen said NeFU was the first ag organization he is aware of to adopt policy supporting MCOOL dating back to 1984. “The resolution came from District 7 at the behest of then NeFU District 7 Director John Goeller of Stanton, who just recently passed away. Director Goeller said U.S. farmers and ranchers produced the highest quality meat in the world, and meat consumers needed the basic information as to where the meat in the
grocery store came from so meat consumers could make an informed meat purchasing decision. Goeller argued that U.S. meat producers deserved to have the superior quality meats they produced honestly and fairly labeled, and that Made in the U.S.A. should include born, raised, and processed.”
“What Director Goeller argued for on behalf of meat consumers and meat producers in 1984 was spot on true then, and is still true 40 years later in 2024. There is nothing that can be done in the next Farm Bill that is more “Farmer Friendly” than including MCOOL,” Hansen said. “MCOOL is about honesty and transparency in the meat buying marketplace for food consumers, and fundamental economic fairness to the livestock producers who work so hard
and do such a wonderful job of producing the safest, best tasting, and highest quality meat in the world.”
Hansen said “According to the latest USDA data, Nebraska ranks #1 in Cattle on Feed, #2 on all cattle and calves, and in red meat production. Livestock production is a primary economic driver. U.S. livestock producers are at an unfair economic disadvantage when the countries the U.S. exports to has MCOOL, yet our domestic producers do not have the same benefit. That is a fundamentally unfair competitive disadvantage that should no longer be tolerated.”
NeFU is asking meat producers and consumers to call and email Nebraska Senators Fischer and Ricketts to ask them to sign Sen. Rounds’ letter to the Senate Ag Committee leadership to put good old fashioned “Farmer Friendly” honesty and fairness into the Farm Bill.
Nebraska Farmers Union is a general farm organization with 3,212 farm and ranch family members dedicated to protecting and enhancing the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers and ranchers, and their rural communities. Since 1913, Nebraska Farmers Union has helped organize over 445 cooperatives.