National & World Ag News Headlines Lincoln, Chambliss Criticize Russia Over U.S. Poultry Imports USAgNet - 08/13/2010 Senator Ag Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss pressed the Russian government to fulfill their commitment to reopen their markets to U.S. poultry imports in a joint letter sent to Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak. "Russia's refusal to resume poultry trade with the U.S. demonstrates an serious lack of commitment to the agreement reached by the two countries in June," Lincoln said. "By creating an arbitrary trade barrier, Russia continues to hamper progress in U.S.-Russian relations. As Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee I intend to make sure the Russian government lives up to their commitment to resume fair and open U.S. poultry imports." U.S. Poultry exports were barred from entering the Russian Federation on January 1, 2010, because of concern about the use of chlorinated water in pathogen reduction treatments (PRT’s) in American poultry processing plants. Despite there being no scientific evidence indicating that such use presents a health to human risk, U.S. poultry processors agreed to forego the use of chlorine, prompting the presidents of the U.S. and the Russian Federation in June to announce an agreement to resume exports to Russia. The new barrier to the resumption of the exports was discovered during a trade hearing held on 7/28 by the Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Sen. Lincoln. The letter has been sent a day before U.S. negotiators were scheduled to meet their Russian counterparts in Geneva to try and resolve the dispute. Over the last three years, U.S. poultry exports to Russia averaged more than $800 million in value, making Russia the single largest U.S. export market. The poultry industry represents over 500,000 jobs in the United States. In Arkansas, the Russian poultry market has been worth as much as $100 million a year, contributing to 88,480 or nearly 6 percent of all jobs in the state. Send this article to a friend Other National Headlines Stricter Country-of-Origin Labels on Meat Imposed Senate Farm Bill Floor Consideration Begins House Ag Holds First Hearing in Process of CFTC Reauthorization Global Seed Treatment Market to Reach $4.45 Billion by 2018 Monsanto Launches Online Insect Forecasting Tool Johanns Offers, Cosponsors Amendments to Improve Farm Bill Wisconsin Raw Milk Trial to Continue into Next Week Copyright © 2013 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.