ID Program Needed To Keep State Cattle In Lucrative Markets
State Agriculture Secretary Says State Crops Can Produce Biofuels
Last updated Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:24 PM CST in Business
By Lana F. Flowers
The Morning News
How old are those cattle at the slaughterhouse?
Arkansas farmers will have to answer that question and others if they want to enter lucrative Asian beef markets.
That's according to Richard Bell, secretary of the Arkansas Agriculture Department. He spoke Wednesday at the Ozark Food Processors Association's 100th annual convention at the Northwest Arkansas Convention and Trade Center and the Holiday Inn in Springdale.
Bell said that while efforts to get a national program to identify cattle by age and farm has grown, the process is a mishmash "overrun with computer people who think they have a software package to solve everything."
However, there soon must be a program to identify cattle by age and farm or "we are going to be locked out of the international market, because the Japanese are going to want to know old they (cattle) are and where they came from," Bell said.
Japan was the most lucrative foreign market for American beef until the first U.S. case of mad cow disease prompted a ban in 2003. Japan reopened its borders to U.S. beef in late 2005, then halted shipments again after finding cuts of American veal contained bone.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has opposed testing all cattle for mad cow disease, because testing rarely pinpoints the disease in younger animals, the main source of beef.
Bell warned Arkansas cattle could bring lower prices than cattle from other areas if the state does not expedite its identification program efforts.
Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale could be affected by any cattle testing program and has felt production pains from bans on U.S. beef in Asian markets.
John Tyson, Tyson Foods chairman and chief executive officer, said at the company's February shareholders meeting that the company processes an average of 600,000 cattle per week, down from 650,000 to 670,000 per week two years ago.
Cattle are not the state agriculture department's only concern. Bell said he'd like more time and resources for developing alternative fuel sources, such as biodiesel and ethanol, to give Arkansas farm products new markets.
He said with oil at $60 or more per barrel, it is more financially feasible to produce biodiesel or ethanol.
Biodiesel is derived from natural oils such as soybean oil or animal fat. It's blended with traditional petroleum-based diesel in varying concentrations.
Ethanol is made from fermenting sugars from various carbohydrates, including corn and cellulose residues from wood.
Bell said Arkansas has the perfect natural resources to produce ethanol, with forested areas covering 56 percent of the state's total land area. He said the state has 18.6 million acres of timber, compared to 7 million acres planted in row crops.
Potlatch, International Paper and Georgia Pacific are the private firms who own a bulk of the forested land, Bell said. Arkansas is fourth in the country in timber production and could supply 10 percent to 20 percent of the ethanol needed to replace gasoline.
However, Bell said Arkansas' ability to produce enough biodiesel to replace traditional fuels is limited, as the state exports 80 percent of its soybean crops.
Bell said long-haul semi trucks nationwide use 60 billion gallons of diesel per year and nationwide soybean production wouldn't replace even 10 percent of traditional fuel usage.
Ewell Welch, executive vice president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, wrote in the March-April issue of Front Porch magazine that Arkansas "has been a bit late in the development of biofuels facilities."
However, the state is coming around. Welch's article said an Eastman Chemical facility in Batesville is producing 6 million gallons per year of 100 percent biodiesel and plans to increase capacity by year's end.
Patriot Biofuels of Stuttgart also is producing biodiesel. Potlatch Corp. will seek U.S. Department of Energy funding for a pilot project to turn wood and agricultural waste into biofuels at a Cypress Bend facility in Desha County, Welch wrote.
Arkansas becoming "a hub of the biofuels industry" is "not without possibility," with interstates, railroads and waterways to link the state to the rest of the nation and world, Welch wrote in the article.
"However, to be as successful as possible, we need a combined effort that includes the existing fuel business and new monies from venture capital firms," Welch wrote.
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