Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX) this week introduced the bipartisan Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021 to create a library for cattle contracts within the USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service Department equipping cattle producers with market data to make informed decisions in negotiations with meatpackers. Currently, USDA maintains a pork contract library, and following significant volatility in the …
House Ag Committee Hearing on Livestock Industry
The House Agriculture Committee held a hearing Thursday to address the current state of the livestock industry, meat processing, production and supply. Among the witnesses testifying were Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President Todd Wilkinson of South Dakota, and François Léger of FPL Food, on behalf of the North American Meat …
Enogen Corn Could Increase Beef Producer Sustainability
A five percent increase in feed efficiency can not only help livestock producers save some money, it can also help increase their sustainability. Syngenta Seeds has found through research around the country that using Enogen corn for feed delivers an average 5% increase in feed efficiency, according to Chris Cook, Head, Enogen at Syngenta Seeds. “Potential feed efficiency gains of …
USDA Adopts Market Transparency Policies Backed by NCBA
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association continues work toward and support policies that will help those working in all areas of the cattle industry. “There is no such thing as a silver bullet, one size fits all, policy solution to these issues. It’s going to have to be a multi-faceted broad approach where we kind of take little chunks out of …
Taxing Concerns for Cattle Producers
One of the biggest concerns of cattle producers meeting last week at the Cattle Industry Convention is the potential negative impact imposing new transfer taxes would have on them. “Everybody’s talking about it being a death tax, but it actually occurs on gifting as well,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Vice President Todd Wilkinson of South Dakota. “If they …
SD Governor Talks Beef and Ethanol at Sturgis Rally
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem saddled up to ride into the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on horseback, then traded her real horse for a steel horse to lead the Legends Ride, an annual charitable event that is co-sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association. The governor appreciates RFA’s ethanol promotion efforts at the rally each year. “Ethanol is critical to our economy…it’s …
#CattleCon21 is Tuning in to Tennessee
Thousands of cattlemen and women are heading to Nashville this week for a late but promising to be great 2021 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) made the decision to move the event from its normal winter months time to the summer so it could be live and in-person and that decision has …
Hearing Focuses on State of Beef Supply Chain
The U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture held a hearing Wednesday to examine how to address challenges within the beef supply chain during which several members of Congress echoed the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) longstanding call to expand processing capacity. Ranking Member Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) recently introduced the Butcher Block Act, a bipartisan bill that …
USDA Announces Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program
USDA’s Farm Service Agency will begin taking applications for the Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program (PLIP) starting next Tuesday, July 20th Livestock and poultry producers who suffered losses during the pandemic due to insufficient access to processing can apply for assistance for those losses and the cost of depopulation and disposal of the animals from July 20 through Sept. 17, 2021. …
Senate Hearing Examines Cattle Markets
The Senate Committee on Agriculture held a hearing Wednesday on “Examining Markets, Transparency, and Prices from Cattle Producer to Consumer” to address a wide range of issues, including the urgent need for robust price discovery and differing industry views on how to achieve it, greater market transparency and oversight, and expanded beef processing capacity. Among the witnesses was Mark Gardiner, …