As the president’s Magical Midwestern Tour rolled on, some of his comments about agriculture were getting negative reviews. Suggestions by President Obama in Atkinson, Illinois Wednesday that farmers who are concerned about more government regulations should just “contact USDA” about it got particular attention. The best of all came from Politico reporter MJ Lee, who decided to take the advice …
How Public Land Policies Affect the Cattle Industry
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 …
Cattle Association Trade Policy Update
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 …
Cattle Producer Bob McCan Optimistic About Future
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 …
Bringing Young People Back to the Ranch
Robbie Baird LeValley is a fourth generation Colorado rancher whose ranch has been in the family for a long-time. She hopes it will continue to be in the family for many years to come and operates her business with this goal in mind. I had the chance to speak with her for a bit during the last day of the …
Jeff Smeenk Talks Environmental Ranching
Did you know that grasslands evolve by being grazed? And that taking grazing out of the equation damages the environment? I didn’t until I sat down with Jeff Smeenk, one of six Environmental Stewardship Award Program winners announced during the Cattle Summer Industry Conference. Smeenk explained that on his ranch, cattle serve the niche of grazing the land and helping …
Efforts to Reign in EPA Continue
I asked National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Elect J.D. Alexander some tough questions during the recent Cattle Industry Summer Conference. One such question was, “What is your favorite way to prepare your beef?” His answer – a bone in ribeye prepared on the grill. So I tried it out last night for dinner and boy was it tasty. OK, …
NCBA Helping to Create Export Markets for Cattle Producers
It often appears that a major role of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is to play “defense” against all the bad policy, press and public opinion that exists. While this is a role of the organization, it is not its only function. I also learned during the Cattle Industry Summer Conference that they also focus on “offensive” tactics like …
NCBA PAC Fundraising Campaign Underway
The political needs of cattle producers across the country may seem like a no brainer for many, but they are not well known or well supported by enough current senators. That is why it is so important for the beef industry to have representation on the Hill. And that’s why the Political Action Committee (PAC) plays such an important role …
Allied Industry Council Focuses on Market Research
The Cattle Industry Summer Conference 2011 might have officially ended last Thursday afternoon, but the work for most is just ramping up. I had a chance to speak with Rod Nulik, who is the chair of the Allied Industry Council group, to discuss some of the issues they would be focused on in the coming months. Nulik explained that the …