#1 issue in animal production right now?

In a seminar recently we were posed the question: 'What do you consider the most important issue in the production of food of animal origin?' I did a paper and interviewed several from the industry and the general public, and the answers were quite broad. Just wondering what members of SteerPlanet see as their most important issue right now.

Thanks,
Sean

could it be the rising popularity of peta and hsus trying to crack down on animal production

Here are some of my canidates for the #1 issue...... PETA, HSUS, growing movement towards vegatarianism, increasing control/movement by environmentallists?? 

inheritance

The general public and their Niche's......straight grassfed and corn fed beef...yeahhh! Also my favorite organic and chemical free beef...dont know about yall but I would like my beef to be treated for worms and other bugs These "CITY" folk have no idea how hard it is to raise market animals be it beef or chickens.

With the global markets, I want to know where my food comes from.  I believe that issue directly relates to growing environment, processing and selling.  I feel better when I see US on the products I buy and try my best to support our country. 

I decided to answer this before i read other's posts to stay bias in my opinion.....I think MEDIA has a huge influence on industry both for price and appearance of how livestock are produced, many ppl respond to peta's ad's but you never see any commercials advocating our production. "Beef it's whats for dinner" doesnt really cut it any more.
Also record keeping is commonly over looked, which can entail anything from feeding records to source verfication, as well as age verification

JMO
Andrew

labor, which brings up the immigration issue.  It isn't the most outfront issue, but at the end of the day none of those other issues previously posted matter if there isn't a labor force to do the work.

On the vegetarian issue, I have a sister-in-law that got on the vegetarian kick for a couple of years ago and was sick all the time, and looked terrible. She gave that up and says she hasn't felt so good as when she got back on a meat protein diet. Another goo one is a distant cousin of mine went on a vegetarian lifestyle, maybe 10-12 years ago and her teeth got worse and worse, her doctor told her it was her eating habits, she put on facebook that "thanks to being a vegan for so many years, she just got all her new teeth today".  Don't get these GOOD testimonials to often from the press do we?

On the forum ??, I think that PETA is a top subject, but, quality control might be the top one.  The consumer, mainly the housewife, is our #1 critic. We NEED to have a CONSISTANT, Quality product that the consumer can expect to get every single time. The poultry industry has kicked our rear on this. The pork industry is way ahead of us as well. We as beef producers have ALOT more variables to deal with, we don't have the ability to confine everything inside and control the eviornment. We also do not have the turnaround in the genetics that the other sectors have.  If we put a product out there and the consumers have a consistantly good eating experience we are doing great great,but, when they have a bad experince, we all loose. Be it a overly dark piece of meat, tough, overly fatty, poor odor, sub par flavor,ect. that consumer is likely to by a boneless skinless chicken breast or a butterly chop for less money the next trip through the grocery store.  Worst case is they get into an abcessed piece of tissue or find a needle.
I agree that we need to have POSITIVE slogan, the best way to do that is to join an organization that does promotion. In IA the Iowa Cattlemans Association does agreat job. They use checkoff dollars to help develop new products and markets but they can only do so much. I would encourage people to get involved and help make a difference. Membership dollars go to help lobby at the state levels to try to keep our legislators on track for passing laws.

I would have to say PETA and HSUS. Im still in school and kids are so easily influence by organizations like these and dont understand what really goes into raising market animals and how humane we actually are to our animals. They assume anyone raising animals for market are cruel and evil people and its so frustrating. They try to say that we can live our lives as we do now without animal products but there is no way that is possible. I try to advocate animal agriculture as much as I can and recently wrote and article for the school newspaper about it that will be published in a few weeks. Hopefully that will influence some kids. Kids are our future and if they think animal agriculture is wrong, its troubling to think what our future will be like. Organizations like PETA and HSUS are just encouraging this behavior so I think they are the biggest problems right now.

Ignorance

FarmerWanna-Be said:

I would have to say PETA and HSUS. Im still in school and kids are so easily influence by organizations like these and dont understand what really goes into raising market animals and how humane we actually are to our animals. They assume anyone raising animals for market are cruel and evil people and its so frustrating. They try to say that we can live our lives as we do now without animal products but there is no way that is possible. I try to advocate animal agriculture as much as I can and recently wrote and article for the school newspaper about it that will be published in a few weeks. Hopefully that will influence some kids. Kids are our future and if they think animal agriculture is wrong, its troubling to think what our future will be like. Organizations like PETA and HSUS are just encouraging this behavior so I think they are the biggest problems right now.

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I totally agree with you...they make eating meat a sin and that animals are shocked, slapped, kicked ect in the growing process. Market animals are r sombodys leaving...why risk it. However its the sale barns that are mean to the animals(another story) mags like Seventeen and Teen Vouge tell teens meat is bad for your body and animals are abused before they a inhumanley slaughtered. My animals are always treated humanley, and only popped when they get pushy, which if let go will hurt someone. They also get a very nice place to live and the best feed and hay I can find. I cry when they get sold  :-\

It's a mistake in any business to think your problems are external.  Overall, its the declining number if people that will be farmers/ranchers and the cost of land relative to its ability to generate revenue.

chambero said:

It's a mistake in any business to think your problems are external.  Overall, its the declining number if people that will be farmers/ranchers and the cost of land relative to its ability to generate revenue.

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which is why the federal government should sell a percentage of the land it owns west of the mississippi.  it would generate millions in property tax, federal employees could be reduced, and lots of people would enter the farming/ranching sector that otherwise could not.

win/win.

also, environmental land trusts should lose their tax exempt status so that individuals who want to purchase the land and farm/ranch it, have a chance.

Death tax and high cost of corn.

knabe...you just hit a really GREAT point,  it would scare the tar out of people if they knew how much revenue is lost from tax dollars just off of the government waste ground.  Not to mention the revenue lost from being in production, ISU did a study in our community and the dollar turned over something like 6.5 times from cow/calf operations here. Then DNR buys up the ground and everyone wonders why our schools are in trouble....DUH!!

Thanks for the input. I had a variety of answers when I asked people for my report. One was on food safety and traceability, another on the poor markets for beef right now and how producers are looking towards new avenues (eg: grassfed beef or organic beef) just to make a profit. Being in Manitoba, Canada, there was also lots of concern about the failing pork markets and high inputs for producing pork as we produce the most pork of any province in Canada.

Animal rights, trade, organic, natural, Animal ID are all very important issues that get a lot of press.

However I belive the number one issue facing animal agriculture right now(beef industry)is the collection of the reduction of the national herd size, Rising costs of production, encroaching of urban areas, rising land costs. These together are driiving more out of agriculture faster than anything else.

Ethanol!

hereford said:

Animal rights, trade, organic, natural, Animal ID are all very important issues that get a lot of press.

However I belive the number one issue facing animal agriculture right now(beef industry)is the collection of the reduction of the national herd size, Rising costs of production, encroaching of urban areas, rising land costs. These together are driiving more out of agriculture faster than anything else.

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I think this is the correct answer.