IRVING, Texas, October 7, 2003 – A coalition of five leading agricultural data service companies today announced plans to create the beef industry’s first data exchange standards. The five participating companies, each actively involved in the USDA-APHIS National Identification Development Team, are establishing the Beef Information Exchange to address the need for a uniform set of data movement standards among the nation’s beef industry producers.

Initially, the Beef Information Exchange will facilitate rapid and secure sharing of data required for a national identification system to address potential mandatory identification and traceback requirements. The system may be expanded over time to accommodate a greater variety of production data. Establishing common data sharing standards is critical to the future of the beef industry because it creates a standard information platform which will allow for greater operational efficiency, reduced supply chain uncertainties, and potentially lower costs.

Neil Hammerschmidt, co-chair of the National ID Development Team Steering Committee stated: "This is a great effort and is the type of cooperation we need among the industry service providers to successfully support regulatory programs. Having a practical and cost effective information infrastructure to achieve timely traceback is critical if we ever need to response to the unfortunate incursion of a foreign animal disease."

The coalition members issued the following statement regarding their joint efforts: "All segments of the U.S. beef industry are faced with adopting new technologies to comply with upcoming economic and regulatory requirements. As data service providers to this industry, we expect to play a significant role in enabling this adoption. We believe that this type of cooperation is essential and should be a model for a diverse industry to come together to achieve their common goals."

The organizing companies involved in this coalition include: AgInfoLink USA, Longmont, CO (www.aginfolink.com); APEIS, Norfolk, NE (www.apeis.com); eMerge Interactive, Inc., Sebastian, FL (www.emergeinteractive.com); IMI Global, Inc., Platte City, MO (www.imiglobal.com); Micro Beef Technologies Ltd., Amarillo, TX (www.microbeef.com).

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