Within all discussions, the core question always asked is, “How do we get more people to eat more beef?” This question was the center of all the business decisions made during the 2011 Cattle Industry’s Summer Conference, explained National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) CEO Forrest Roberts. The purpose of the conference, said Roberts, was to come together and make business …

Kristina Harris Butts is the Executive Director of Legislative Affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). She sat down with me during the Cattle Industry Summer Conference to give me an update on a policy that hasn’t been so top of mind for policymakers these past few months due to their work on the budget. And that’s the 2012 …

Matt Teagarden is a rancher from Topeka, Kansas whose family has been in the business of cattle for at least four generations. During the Cattle Industry Summer Conference, he said he was closely watching the language around the mandatory COOL program. He explained there is a confidential trade ruling from the World Trade Organization indicating that Mexico and Canada are …

Don Pemberton is a rancher from Hopkinsville, KY. His family business has been in operation for 40 years, and he is a long-time National Cattlemen’s Beef Association member who feels it’s important to have an association that “has your back” so to speak. He was recently elected as Vice Chair of the Policy Division, and the big joke during the …

All roads lead to Colorado. Cattle producer Terry Fankhauser is a Kansas native but moved to Colorado about 11 years ago. He comes from a multi-generation ranch, but it was only big enough for the family that was there so Fankhauser said his dad had the foresite to tell him to go find something else. And that he did in …

Charles Lyons is a cattle producer from Mountain Home, Idaho. Unlike most ranchers I spoke with during the Cattle Industry Summer Conference, Lyons is a first generation rancher who decided to try cowboying about 12 years ago. Also, being from Idaho, a state where 65 percent of the land is federally owned, he has a few different policy issues that …

Kent Bacus, Manager of Legislative Affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), has a lot of important policies that he is working on in D.C. Since so many NCBA members who attended the Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Florida have various policy issues on the top of their minds, I thought it was high-time I learned more about them …

Bob McCan, a cattle producer from Victoria, Texas is optimistic about the future, despite the legislative challenges before the industry. He shared his views with me on the industry during the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. There are many issues affecting the industry right now including proposed GIPSA rules, which he views as a major issue right now. He said the …