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NE Beef Producers Not All Onboard With Pillen's "Lab-Grown" Meat Ban

U.S. steak is sold among cuts of beef from Australia and New Zealand. Because the U.S. lacks a free trade agreement with China, its beef is expensive in China. As a result, it doesn't sell as well as beef from competing markets.
Rob Schmitz
/
NPR
U.S. steak is sold among cuts of beef from Australia and New Zealand. Because the U.S. lacks a free trade agreement with China, its beef is expensive in China. As a result, it doesn't sell as well as beef from competing markets.

A bill to ban the sale of so-called lab-grown meat might seem like a no-brainer in Nebraska, where beef is king. But key players, including ranchers and agriculture organizations, are pushing back against Gov. Jim Pillen's proposed ban. Dan Morgan is a fourth-generation cattle rancher from central Nebraska. He says he doesn't think the emerging lab-grown meat products can compete with his Waygu beef. He and groups like the Nebraska Farm Bureau and Nebraska Cattlemen say they prefer a bill that would require lab-grown products to be clearly labeled to separate them from traditionally produced meat.