Ag organizations at odds over meat labeling bill failure

Montana agricultural organizations are at odds over a proposal that failed during the legislative session on an issue that seems simple: letting shoppers know where their beef and pork was raised.

Sen. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, and Rep. Bradley Hammett, D-Cascade, each proposed bills requiring Montana grocers to put up placards saying where beef and pork originated, a revival of the country-of-origin labeling idea.

Both bills failed.

A motion to take Hammett’s bill from committee to be debated and voted on on the House floor failed 48-50 with one legislator excused and one absent. Reps. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, and Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, all voted to bring it out of committee.

Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, voted against the motion.

Olszewski’s bill died tabled in the Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee, which includes Olszewski, Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, and Sen. Frank Smith, D-Poplar. No vote on the bill was listed in the committee or on the floor.

Montana Cattlemen’s Association decried the failure of the bills, which it and Montana Farmers Union Northern Plains Resource Council supported.

In a release, printed as a column today on Page A4, the Cattlemen’s Association also decried opposition to the bills from Montana Stockgrower’s Association and Montana Farm Bureau.

The Cattlemen’s Association said the failure prevents consumers from information to guide their choices in buying meat.

But Stockgrowers and Farm Bureau have said the bill did not provide country-of-origin labeling — all it did was place a burden on retailers, who often don’t even know where the meat came from, and placed the chance of fines or even jail time on them if they did not put up the signs.

A column from Stockgrowers is printed on Page A4 in today’s edition.

Montana had a country-of-origin requirement last decade, when the Legislature in 2005 passed a law that sunsetted with the creation of a national COOL requirement.

Congress did that, and the Montana law ended. But the federal law faced opposition from the start.

Mexico and Canada filed complaints with the World Trade Organization, and in three different rulings WTO agreed with the complaints and ruled that COOL violated trade regulations.

In 2015, WTO approved Mexico and Canada implementing tariffs due to the U.S. COOL requirements, that allowed up to $1 billion in tariffs, and Congress ended the COOL requirement.

The ruling did not specifically prohibit country-of-origin labeling, however, just what the U.S. had in place. Congress had attempted to adjust the requirements following the two previous WTO rulings, but ended the law after the 2015 ruling.

A representative of Stockgrowers Assocation said MSGA has always supported COOL, but requiring local retailers to shoulder the burden is the wrong way to go. The association hopes Congress will pass a WTO-compliant law.

But Cattlemen’s Association said that will mean voluntary labeling, which already can be done and which the meatpacking associations oppose.

A representative of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said he plans to introduce a resolution at some point to reinstate country-of-origin labeling.

“Americans deserve to know where their food was born and raised,” Tester said in a statement. “That’s why I’ve championed country-of-origin labeling here in the Senate and I am working hard to make this information transparent and easily available to consumers.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said he also supports the idea, but wants to proceed with care.

“The senator supports the concept of labeling to promote U.S. beef and ensure that consumers are provided important information regarding the food and agricultural products they purchase,” Julia Doyle said. “The senator does want to make sure, however, that U.S. law does not have unintended consequences that hurt U.S. agricultural producers.”