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USMEF Conference Concludes with Officer Elections, Support for TPP

Published: Nov 06, 2015

From left: Dennis Stiffler, Bruce Schmoll, Roel Andriessen, Leann Saunders and Conley Nelson

The U.S. Meat Export Federation’s (USMEF) annual Strategic Planning Conference concluded Friday in Tucson, Arizona, with the election of a new officer team. Roel Andriessen, who heads the International Sales Group of Tyson Fresh Meats, is the new USMEF chair. He succeeds Leann Saunders, president of Where Food Comes From, a leading agricultural and food verification and certification company.

Andriessen has more than 35 years of meat industry experience, beginning with his family’s international meat and poultry business in the Netherlands. In 1978 he joined IBP, which was subsequently acquired by Tyson. He has been involved with USMEF since 1979 as a member of the executive committee and has chaired various USMEF committees.

“Whether your company is very large, very small, or somewhere in between, USMEF has the talent in place to enhance your opportunities in the global marketplace,” he said.

Andriessen addressed the economic challenges that have caused U.S. red meat exports to slow in 2015, but said that even in difficult times exports still deliver important returns to the entire U.S. industry – including producers, processors and exporters.

“The industry is going to have ups and downs – from time to time we are going to have issues,” he said. “But overall the global marketplace is growing, especially in the China region and all of Asia. So there’s plenty of opportunity for us to participate, for the benefit of the total supply chain.”

Bruce Schmoll, a soybean and corn producer from Claremont, Minnesota, is the new USMEF chair-elect. Schmoll is a past president of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and has held several industry leadership positions at the local and state level. Dennis Stiffler, Ph.D., USMEF vice chair, is chief executive officer of Mountain States Rosen, a producer-owned fabricator, processor and distributor of quality lamb and veal products.

The newest member of the USMEF officer team is Conley Nelson of Algona, Iowa, who will serve as secretary-treasurer. Nelson is general manager of Smithfield Foods’ hog production division in the company’s five-state Midwest region and was president of the National Pork Board in 2012-13.

Also on Friday, the USMEF membership unanimously approved a resolution supporting ratification and implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The resolution states that TPP offers significant tariff relief for U.S. beef and pork entering Japan and Vietnam, and includes mechanisms for addressing sanitary and phytosanitary issues that will assist the United States in reducing non-tariff trade barriers and achieving reliable market access. The resolution also notes that failure to ratify TPP could cause the U.S. red meat industry to face significant disadvantages as competitors move forward with trade agreements.

The resolution originated with the USMEF Beef and Allied Industries Committee and Pork and Allied Industries Committee, which had met the previous day to discuss market conditions and marketing activities in key destinations for U.S. red meat. Meetings were also conducted by the USMEF Exporter Committee and the USMEF Feedgrain and Oilseed Caucus.

The Strategic Planning Conference also included a detailed outline of TPP’s implications for U.S. agriculture by Sharon Bomer, assistant U.S. trade representative for agricultural affairs and commodity policy for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. USMEF members also received informative presentations on China’s role in the global economy from Michael Drury, chief economist for McVean Trading, and Joel Haggard, USMEF senior vice president for the Asia Pacific.

High-resolution photo for use with this release:

From left: Dennis Stiffler, Bruce Schmoll, Roel Andriessen, Leann Saunders and Conley Nelson