Uzbekistan Lifts U.S. Pork Ban; Ag Risk Coverage Program
**Uzbekistan has reopened to U.S. pork for the first time in three years, lifting an import suspension imposed after porcine epidemic diarrhea virus was found in the United States.
U.S. Meat Export Federation’s Yuri Barutkin says the suspension took effect in 2014, shortly after they launched the first pork marketing efforts in Uzbekistan.
While Uzbekistan is likely to be a small market for U.S. pork, Barutkin says the initial shipments were well-received and he feels U.S. pork can compete very well with imports from the European Union.
Uzbekistan was the only country to ban imports of U.S. pork due to PEDV.
**The American Farm Bureau is asking for “tweaks” to the Agricultural Risk Coverage program in the next farm bill.
The Farm Bureau’s John Newton says they want ARC to be fair and effective for all farmers.
Newton says development of the 2018 farm bill seems to be on schedule and he thinks passage of the bill is possible by the end of the year.
**U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says there is no timeline to lifting the U.S. ban on Brazlian beef. Brazil’s ag secretary met with Perdue last week asking for the ban to be lifted in 60 days, but Perdue said that would be very challenging and will take a lot of auditing IN Brazil.
Perdue says there are several areas of concern, including a compromised inspection system.