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2021 NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE

Ranchers call for resumption of local meat inspections

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The state of New Mexico stopped conducting meat inspections in 2007, following negative reports from spot checks by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“They found all sorts of things wrong,” then-Livestock Board member Bob Maldonado told the Albuquerque Journal. “These (state) inspectors did not have adequate training. They were doing the paperwork wrong. I don’t think that we particularly wanted to do this. They threatened us for a year. We didn’t have a choice.”

New Mexico’s dependence on federal inspections came back to bite the state last year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and local ranchers were unable to get their livestock to market. That resulted in lower prices for ranchers and higher prices for grocery shoppers.

Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate this year to bring back state-run meat inspections. House Bill 33 was passed unanimously Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the Water and Natural Resources Committee.

Sponsor Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, said the lack of in-state inspections means that 99 percent of New Mexico-bred cattle goes out of state for processing, and then is re-imported at a much higher price.

“During COVID, consumers were paying $8 a pound for ground beef and $16 a pound for roast, and our ranchers weren’t getting any of that,” Dow said. “We have no control over our prices and no control over our costs. The ranchers were losers, and the consumers have less access to local food.”

HB 33 would give the New Mexico Livestock Board the authority to establish rules and conduct inspections at slaughterhouses and meat and poultry processing plants throughout the state. Rules would have to be at least as stringent as under federal inspections.

Belinda Garland, executive director of the Livestock Board, said they would work in partnership with the federal government in re-establishing the inspections program. If they are successful, the federal government will reimburse up to half of the total costs.

Garland said the Livestock Board already has brand inspectors working throughout the state who know the ranchers and the rural communities. And she vowed that training problems that resulted in the shutdown under former Gov. Bill Richardson would be addressed. She said of the 17 employees devoted to the program, two would be training and compliance officers.

“There are nine components that must be met to get federal approval, and training and oversight is one of the main factors,” she said.

Ranchers from throughout the state testified in support of the bill. They told a common story of needing to ship animals to Texas or Colorado for processing.

“When the grocery store shelves were empty, we were literally selling beef on the hoof and transporting animals from Los Alamos to El Paso,” said Kevin Branum, a small beef producer. “Covid brought light on the fact that our food system is broken here in New Mexico. Our beef left the state and we didn’t get it back.”

Rancher Becky King Spindle said she saw people selling beef that had not been inspected from their own refrigerators.

John Richardson, who owns a ranch near Salem, said he had to send his cattle to Texas, and four died from disease. “It was out of my control as to their care,” he said. “State control of cattle, not federal, is the way to go.”

A separate bill sponsored by Rep. Nathan Small, HB 246, would have established the inspections program through the state Department of Agriculture. Ag Department Secretary Jeff Witte said the Livestock Board was better equipped to handle enforcement, while his agency focuses on marketing and branding. Small is a member of the Ag Committee, and voted for HB 33.

Witte said that that bill, along with House Bill 121, would create a new infrastructure for value-added agriculture in the state. HB 121 would establish a new statewide meat processing and marketing program.

“The governor, from day one, has said increasing our value-added opportunities in agriculture was a priority and we haven’t backed off that a bit,” Witte said. “We have funded a couple of processing plants that have come in, and are talking to others.

“This is not a bill to fix the ills of yesterday; this is about building our future,” he said.

The fiscal impact report estimated that the costs for the inspection program would be about  $500,000 in startup expenses in fiscal year 2021, and then about $1.6 million a year in subsequent years.

Rep. Dow said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham supports the program and has included funding for it in her budget request. HB 33 now moves to the State Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee.

Walter Rubel can be reached at waltubel@gmail.com

Walt Rubel, Livestock, inspections

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