Spanberger, in Roanoke Valley stop, says Trump's beef import plan will hurt Virginia producers
TROUTVILLE — A crowd of cattle producing stakeholders from across Virginia descended on Williamson Farms in Troutville on Tuesday, as Gov. Abigail Spanberger led a roundtable discussion on how to best support the industry.
The discussion came less than a week after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation for 300,000 metric tons of beef to be imported duty-free and “sold at a price 25 percent below the market price.” As of July, the average cost of a pound of ground beef is $6.885, more than 60 cents more expensive than the same time last year.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, back right, hosts a roundtable with cattlemen in Botetourt County at Williamson Farms on Tuesday, a century-old family-owned farm that produces grass-fed Angus beef. Seated at the front table, from left, Co-owners of Williamson Farms Tara and Tom Williamson, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Gene Copenhaver, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Katie Frazier, and Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke.
Beef cattle is the second-largest commodity produced in Virginia. Spanberger, who wore a large, personalized belt buckle and an American flag pin in the shape of a head of cattle, told media that the proclamation would negatively impact an industry already facing other challenges.
“It's outrageous, it's offensive, and it hurts — yeah, Virginia's economy, absolutely — but I think it actually is like a betrayal of people who have worked year in and year out through drought conditions, through frost conditions, to do something that they believe in,” she said.
Trump's proclamation contends that increasing the imports of foreign grown ground beef will help lower prices for U.S. consumers. Critics point out the increase is timed to happen this month and next, just before the midterm elections.
Spanberger picks out products to purchase from the farmstand at Williamson Farms in Botetourt County on Tuesday.
The conversation at Williamson Farms touched on the difficult conditions the state’s cattle producers are facing, including higher input costs like diesel prices, the closures of slaughter and processing facilities and the drought’s impact on hay production.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, center right, tours Williamson Farms in Troutville before hosting a roundtable with cattlemen in Botetourt at the century-old family-owned farm on Tuesday. With her is Tara Williamson, co-owner of Williamson Farms, from left, Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, and Katie K. Frazier, secretary of agriculture and forestry.
Spanberger said the state will be rolling out a plan in the next few weeks that would address the hay shortage and support cattle producers as they try to feed their herds through the winter. She told attendees the state is endeavoring to address some of the industry’s largest challenges in Virginia and invited cattle producers to continue sharing their perspectives with her and industry groups.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, center right, tours Williamson Farms in Troutville with co-owners Tara and Tom Williamson on Tuesday. Spanberger is joined by Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, far left, and Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Katie Frazier, far right, before hosting a roundtable with cattlemen in Botetourt at the century-old family-owned farm.
“We’ve got to get to a place where we can find some localized solutions. I cannot stop every bad choice that might be coming out of Washington,” she said during the roundtable, “but at the state level we can try to mitigate some of those impacts, and we’re working, we’re developing some plans.”
Beef products sold at Williamson Farms, a century-old, family-owned farm producing a variety of foods, including grass-fed Angus beef.
Roanoke County Career and Technology Center
Spanberger followed her discussion at Williamson Farms with a tour of the new Roanoke County Career and Technology Center. The facility is expected to be ready for students in January.
Representatives from the school division, school board and local companies that invested in the center spoke with the governor during the tour about the center’s benefits for the region. Brandon Schlimm, the general manager of Alro Steel's Roanoke facility, told Spanberger that they partnered with the division’s welding program despite the fact that its facilities don’t employ welders.
“But the idea is really just to support industry,” he said. “So even if those kids never work for us, the intent is hopefully they'll work for our customers in the area and really keeping manufacturing strong in the area."
The governor told those present that international companies she'd spoken to saw Virginia as the place to be. The division's effort to partner with industry to nurture skillsets "speaks very, very strongly to the region's investment, but also from a larger Virginia perspective, the recognition that the way that we're continuing to grow the economy is by investing in our talent pool.”
Alexia Partouche (540) 981-3116 alexia.partouche@roanoke.com
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Gov. Spanberger hosts roundtable with cattlemen in Botetourt at Williamson Farms
