CattleCon 2026 Breaks Attendance Record

Chuck Zimmerman

CattleCon 2026 has broken the all-time event attendance record this week, with more than 9,400 cattle producers and industry stakeholders converging in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. “There’s a lot of smiles, a lot of optimism, and everybody’s having a great time, not only with the just current state of the beef industry and how good things look for us, but also …

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Meat, NCBA, Nutrition

Environmental Stewardship Awards at CattleCon 26

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) presented Wine Glass Ranch in Imperial, Nebraska, with the 2025 Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) National winner during CattleCon 2026 in Nashville this week. “This ranch has been in my family for 140 years, and we are the stewards of the ground,” said Logan Pribbeno with Wine Glass Ranch. “We are grazing the best …

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Environment, NCBA

Cattle Producers Gather at CattleCon 2026

Cindy Zimmerman

Almost 9,000 cattle producers, industry partners and stakeholders from around the country are in downtown Nashville this week for CattleCon 2026, the largest cattle industry event of the year. NCBA President-Elect Gene Copenhaver of Virginia says there is a lot of excitement in the industry right now after some big wins. “I think maybe the biggest one that happened was …

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, Beef Checkoff, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Former Industry Leaders Warn of Farm Crisis

Cindy Zimmerman

A bipartisan group of former leaders of America’s major agricultural commodity associations and biofuels organizations, farmer leaders, and former senior USDA officials, sent a letter to Congress this week sounding the alarm about the current state of the farm economy and the potential for “widespread collapse of American agriculture.” In a letter released today to the leadership of the House …

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Corn, Ethanol

NCBA Announces Policy Priorities at CattleCon 2026

Cindy Zimmerman

As CattleCon 2026 kicked off this week in Nashville, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) announced its 2026 policy priorities following approval by the organization’s Executive Committee. NCBA’s focus centers on policies that directly impact producer profitability, including reducing regulatory costs, defending free markets, expanding trade opportunities, and maintaining strong beef demand. NCBA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan …

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol Appoints Co-Directors

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol has announced the appointment of Marjory Walker and Liz Hershfield as co-directors to accelerate the program’s growth by advancing market adoption, developing new market-driven offerings, and fostering greater collaboration across the entire cotton value chain. Walker and Hershfield will oversee distinct but complementary pillars of the program. Walker will lead the operational and programmatic framework, …

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, Sustainability

Trump Spotlights Deere Announcement in Iowa

Cindy Zimmerman

When President Donald J. Trump spoke in Iowa yesterday, he made the announcement that John Deere is building two new major factories in the United States, a state-of-the-art distribution center near Hebron, Indiana, and a cutting-edge excavator factory in Kernersville, North Carolina, both set to open in the next year. “We got the chairman of John Deere here…it’s a great …

Audio, John Deere, politics

Preview Interview of 2026 CattleCon

Chuck Zimmerman

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is gearing up for CattleCon 2026 in Nashville, set to take place next week despite recent winter weather challenges. NCBA Senior Executive Director of Meetings and Events Kristin Torres confirmed that downtown Nashville is recovering well from the ice storm that still has thousands of residents without power. “It does look like it’s going …

Ag Groups, Audio, NCBA

Drought and Heat in Cotton Belt Outlook

Cindy Zimmerman

While much of the southern Cotton Belt is in a deep freeze right now, the big concern in the forecast for this season is drought and heat. Eric Snodgrass of Nutrien Ag Solutions told cotton growers at the 2026 Beltwide Cotton Conferences that much of the weather risk facing the Cotton Belt in 2026 can be traced to the Pacific …

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, Weather

Cotton Trust Protocol Grows Sustainability

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. cotton industry’s voluntary sustainability program has achieved significant success in just five years, according to an update from the National Cotton Council at recent Beltwide Cotton Conferences. Marjory Walker, Vice President of Council Operations, says the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol has grown rapidly since it launched in July 2020. “We actually have 2,500 global members representing 25 brands …

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton