Rapid City Journal - March 8, 2005
By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer
PIERRE — The biggest immediate challenge facing the new SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef program will be processing enough premium beef to satisfy demand, Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday.
Rounds signed a bill into law Tuesday authorizing the SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef program, which is aimed at getting higher prices for beef certified as born, raised and processed in South Dakota under specific standards. The Legislature approved the bill a week ago.
The program is based on a system of identifying individual cattle with an electronic device placed in an ear tag, and electronically following each animal's path from ranch to feedlot to slaughterhouse to retail meat case.
The certification that the beef is raised under strict rules in South Dakota assures consumers of the product's safety and quality, Rounds said.
"Right now, we have individuals who want our product on their shelves," Rounds said at a news conference. "Our challenge is to process enough of the product to meet the demand out there."
State Agriculture Department officials will now finish drafting licensing rules for cow-calf producers, feedlot operators and processing plants, ag secretary Larry Gabriel said. He hopes to have the rules adopted in May.
About 850 South Dakota farmers and ranchers have expressed interest in the program, Gabriel said.
Dwight Scott of Scott Cattle Co. near Letcher, which was the first to register cattle with the program last summer, attended the news conference and bill signing.
Scott said the program would require a little change in his company's operation, although it began individual animal I.D. and data collection on cattle 10 years ago.
"I really believe in this project," Scott said. "I believe it's the next step."
Gabriel said several feedlot operators also have indicated they will sign licensing agreements with the program, which the ag department will administer.
But Rounds acknowledges that South Dakota has few large processing plants.
He said he hopes Ridgefield Farms is able to complete a large packing plant in Huron that could process hundreds of cattle a week. Ridgefield Farms has said that as much as 30 percent of its slaughter would be SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef, according to Rounds.
Gabriel said many of the state's small processing plants are thinking of expanding.
Don Ward, owner of Bad River Pack in Fort Pierre, said the project could open opportunities for small processors. "I don't know how large a premium we'll be able to demand, but I do know people are willing to pay for quality," Ward said.
Backers say SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef, with its assurances of safety, could find a market in Japan, which has banned U.S. beef over mad cow disease fears.
Rounds said SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ would first feature premium beef and later would add "natural beef," which would be free of growth hormones. That could make it attractive to European markets, which have banned U.S. beef over the growth-hormone issue, he said.
State officials say the certified premium beef will be sold primarily at high-end grocery stores.
"We believe that consumers will step forward, and they will be paying a premium price for this premium product," Rounds said.
The meats would carry a SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef trademark carrying an image of Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Rounds said a bar code on each package of meat would provide access to a Web site that will list the date and location of the calf's birth, the feedlot where it was fed, and where and when it was slaughtered.
Farmers and ranchers who voluntarily enroll in the program will pay licensing fees to the state, which will use the money to finance the effort.
SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef is the first state value-added program in the country, Gabriel said in an interview later Tuesday.
He said the state's program takes animal identification and traceability to a higher level than that offered by private value-added projects.
Participants must to follow state standards and keep records the state can check.
"We have laws standing behind our program," Gabriel said. "All of these other branded beef programs just have basically the word of the producer behind them. Ours is auditable and verifiable."
Gabriel said people who violate the state's certified beef program are subject to felony charges.
Rounds also signed a related bill Tuesday that authorizes an individual animal I.D. system in the state.
The program is voluntary, but the South Dakota Animal Industry Board could make it mandatory.
Gabriel emphasized that a mandatory program is likely many years away.
