AgWired

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO Forrest Roberts is thrilled at the turnout at this week’s Cattle Industry Convention, which was exceptional even without considering the bad weather.

“We started the week with expectations that we would set a record for attendance over the past ten years,” Forrest said. “We had a little bit of a scare with Mother Nature with some bad weather across the entire US, but we’re right at about 6,000 cattlemen that have come into Denver with a real focused effort to make good business decisions for this industry.”

Forrest says the producers have come together with a sense of optimism. “We’ve obviously had good levels of profit throughout just about every segment of the beef industry and that’s not a situation we’ve ever had. So when you seen that type of an opportunity, you tend to see people come into it with their spirits high, despite the weather.”

Forrest talked about the beef industry long range plan and how NCBA hopes to implement those long term goals.

Listen or download my interview with Forrest here: Interview with Forrest Roberts
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.

The proposed GIPSA regulations and the impact of the recent Eastern Livestock bankruptcy case were the top issues on the agenda for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Live Cattle Marketing Committee meeting today.

Allie Devine, VP & General Counsel for the Kansas Livestock Association, gave an update on both at the meeting. While the outcome of GIPSA is still up in the air, Allie says there are lessons cattle producers can learn now from the Eastern Livestock bankruptcy situation.

“I would tell any cattle producer today, there’s nothing wrong with writing contracts, they’re not hard,” she told me. However, she acknowledges that goes against the grain of the people in this business. “The handshake is the hallmark of the cattle industry,” she said. “For the vast majority of them, they’re honest and hardworking and their word is their honor.”

“It’s tough, but when we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s better to put it in writing,” Allie advises.

Listen or download my interview with Allie here: Interview with Allie Devine
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.

It was a full house for the CattleFax Annual Outlook Seminar this morning in Denver, showing how important future trends in weather, prices, grain markets and exports are to members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

According to CattleFax market analyst Brett Stuart, global beef demand is increasing alongside tighter world beef supplies.

“2011 will be the fourth consecutive year of global beef production declines,” said Stuart. “This will not correct quickly. We will see very tight supplies moving forward.”

“I am not saying exports will be up 18 percent (from 2010), but I’m not saying they won’t be,” he said.

Listen or download Stuart’s presentation here: CattleFax's Brett Stuart
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.

Members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Long Range Plan Task Force unveiled the core strategies and goals for the industry going forward.

I talked with task force member Homer Buell of Shovel Dot Ranch in Nebraska about some of the six core areas – improving domestic consumer preference for beef, global growth opportunities, strengthening the image of beef, protecting the freedom to operate, improving industry trust and positioning the cow herd for growth.

“We developed a three year plan.” said Homer. “We really wanted to set out a vision, a mission, and then locked together six core strategies to make that happen and as we move forward, if the things in our plan can be made to happen, then we can continue to have success.”

The vision statement is, “An industry united around a common goal of being the world’s most trusted and preferred source of beef and beef products” and the mission statement is “To provide the safest, highest quality, most consumer-friendly beef and beef products in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner.”

Listen or download my interview with Homer here: Interview with Homer Buell
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.

The 20th annual national Environmental Stewardship Award (ESA) winner was announced Thursday night during the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association tailgate party held at the Denver Broncos football stadium.

The seven regional award winners were honored during a reception where they all received specially commissioned bronze sculptures by artist Vern Friesen of Nebraska, courtesy of sponsor Dow AgroSciences. The national winner was Couser Cattle Company of Nevada, Iowa – represented here by Bill and Nancy Couser. They received another special bronze for being the best in the country.

The awards are also sponsored by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Since the ESA program began in 1991, nearly 130 cattle operations in 33 states have been recognized for outstanding environmental stewardship. The 20 year milestone of the program is being marked by a special video presentation that will be aired on NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen program this summer.

BTW, we did a post about the Couser Cattle Company last year when they hosted a tour of the operation as part of the TATT Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable.

Listen or download my interview with Bill here: Interview with Bill Couser
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.

Steve Foglesong of Illinois has just a couple more days as president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and I spent a few minutes with him today reflecting on his year as the head of the organizations.

When it came to over-reaching government regulation, Steve said, “It was non-stop, one issue after another” but, he is pleased that NCBA was successful in getting some of those things changed or stopped.

GIPSA was the biggest regulatory issue that NCBA faced in 2010, and while a final decision has not yet been made, Steve is happy the Secretary of Agriculture has now ordered a full economic analysis of the proposed rule. “And they’re going to take their time and do that job right.”

After so many struggles in 2010, Steve said it was strange that the year ended with a victory that meant a great deal to the cattle industry – two years of death tax relief in the lame duck session of Congress. But, he notes that the industry will still be “looking for a full repeal.”

Listen or download my interview with Steve here: NCBA president Steve Foglesong
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.

Addressing about 5,000 cattle industry members from around the country Thursday morning, the man who served President George W. Bush in the White House gave a nice, if somewhat backhanded, compliment to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “This is one damn confident organization to have a man with a ponytail coming in as your president,” said Karl Rove, referring to Montana cattleman Bill Donald, NCBA president-elect.

Rove, who served as Senior White House Advisor under Bush and is now a Fox New contributor, talked about a number of policy issues important to cattle producers, starting with international trade. “We gotta find ways to take what we grow and produce and manufacture and create and sell them all around the world because America can compete anywhere in the world as long as the rules are fair and the playing field is level,” he said.

Listen or download all of Rove’s remarks here: Karl Rove Remarks at NCBA
2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

See more coverage on BeltwayBeef.org.