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U.S. Meat Export Federation has a new chair. Pat Binger of Wichita, KS started his yearlong term on November 13th at the conclusion of the USMEF Strategic Planning Conference. Binger comes to position with 32 years of experience at Cargill, the last 11 years he led the international business segment for the North America protein division.

When it comes to the year ahead, Binger expect a lot of noise. He said word of a possible COVID-19 vaccine very encouraging, which will be vital to stabilize both demand and supply concerns in overseas markets.

“We need to continue to expand our product mix and find a way to increase the utilization of the carcass.  There are things today that we’re not getting into a box because of labor or a combination of labor and complexity that would be going to the international market place.  And so, some of the volume decreases this year have been due to labor and complexity in the plants and that’s another big opportunity that we have to manage through.”

Binger noted overall he’s very optimistic about the industry’s ability to take challenges head on in the coming months.

Binger succeeds Idaho cattle feeder Cevin Jones.

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