NCBA Committees Address Tax and Environmental Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

They say that nothing is sure in life except death and taxes, so you should be prepared for a combination of both in the end.

Cliff Polk, estate planning specialist and founder and president of Rocky Mountain Financial Group, provdedd members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Tax and Credit policy committee meeting on Friday with an in depth overview of the tax package passed by Congress at the end of 2010 that included language to reduce the top rate of the estate tax, commonly known as the death tax, to 35 percent and increase the exemption level to $5 million. He reminded producers that proper planning is necessary to ensure they meet estate tax exclusion levels. “Each family has to look at their operation as a business and determine the best succession plan. The next tax law will provide necessary relief from this onerous tax, but family-owned ranches need to take steps today to properly plan for the future of their operations. This industry, your industry, relies on it.”

Another sure thing for agricultural producers in this day and age is environmental regulations and one of the latest is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to implement the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rule.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Dave White talked about that issue at the NCBA Property Rights and Environmental Management Committee meeting on Friday. An NRCS report, “Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Chesapeake Bay Region,” came up with very different estimates of pollutant loads to the Chesapeake Bay compared to EPA. White believes EPA’s data is flawed when it comes to agriculture.

“Where we have a problem is we think this Bay model is not 100 percent accurate when it comes to agriculture,” White said. “There is just some erroneous stuff in there. We believe 88 percent of cropland (in the Bay areas) is under no-till. EPA is saying 50 percent. That’s a big, big difference.”

The NRCS chief was also at the convention Thursday night to honor the winners of the 20th annual national Environmental Stewardship Awards (ESA) program, which recognizes American farmers and ranchers as the number one stewards of the environment and annually pays tribute to the best of the best around the country.


2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

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State Beef Council Federation Charter Adopted

Cindy Zimmerman

The Federation of State Beef Councils adopted a charter that details its financial and decision-making independence from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

The 12-point “Federation Charter of Principles” details independent functions, such as financial practices, while also retaining beneficial business ties the two entities have shared during their 15-year relationship. A Federation Structure Working Group drafted the charter in response to a resolution passed by Federation directors at the summer 2010 cattle industry conference.

“The board gave us the job of finding a way to better communicate how we operate independently from NCBA, without ending our long partnership,” said Scott George, a Wyoming dairy and beef producer who chaired the Federation in FY 2010 and led the working group. “This charter spells all that out in black and white, so our intentions and operations are transparent to our fellow beef producers and stakeholders.”

Listen or download my interview with Scott about the Federation here: Interview with Scott George

Scott has switched hats now as he was elected to be vice president of NCBA. The new chairman of the Federation is David Dick, a cow-calf producer from Sedalia, Missouri.

I’ve talked with David a couple of times over the past year for the Missouri Beef Industry Council about the Federation structure. He says the Federation spent a good deal of time working on this charter to clarify their role, but there is still some work to be done. “We need the framework and then we have to put the details in that,” he said.

Listen or download some comments from David Dick about the Federation charter here: David Dick


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New CBB Chairman Tom Jones

Chuck Zimmerman

The last business conducted during the Board of Directors meeting of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board was the electing of new officers. The nominating committee announced their slate and a vote passed their nominations.

New officers include Chairman, Tom Jones, Arkansas (pictured), Vice-Chair, Wesley Grau, New Mexico and Secretary/Treasurer, Weldon Wynn, Arkansas.

I joined with Ron Hayes, Radio Oklahoma Network and Stewart Doane, AgriPulse, in interviewing Tom as the new chairman right after the meeting. Tom says getting to work right away on the new Beef Industry Long Range plan is his priority.

You can listen to our interview with Tom here: Interview With Tom Jones

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Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

Larry Heats Up Cowboy Comedy Club

Chuck Zimmerman

At the Cattle Industry Convention a lot of work gets done but there are social enjoyment opportunities. At this year’s convention that included the Cowboy Comedy Club and comedian Larry The Cable Guy. Larry was funny I don’t care who you are. He got ‘r done.

Cindy and I made it through most of his performance before needing to call it a day. I took more photos of Larry and you can find them in our photo album.

2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

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Dan Diershcke Looks Back on Year As Beef Board Chair

Chuck Zimmerman

The now, just past, Chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board is Dan Dierschke, Texas, pictured being interviewed in the media room at the Cattle Industry Convention. One of the officer duties is to be available to the media during the summer meeting and annual convention. Hopefully, it’s a mostly enjoyable task!

I was one of Dan’s interviewers and got him to take a look back at the last year and a look ahead. Dan is especially interested in exports of beef since that’s an area he’s worked in for a long time and recently export sales have seen significant increases which brings a good return to cattle producers. He is very gratified to see the strong producer support of the Beef Checkoff as shown by the most recent producer attitude survey.

You can listen to my interview with Dan here: Interview with Dan Dierschke

2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

Management Report From Beef Board

Chuck Zimmerman

During the CBB Update Session at the Cattle Industry Convention Tom Ramey, CEO, gave his management report. He started out by saying that as a new year begins with new members coming onto the board, he can’t imagine any that will work any harder than those he’s had the honor to serve this past year. Tom says that some CEO’s are drivers of change in their organization and forces to be reckoned with. He, however, sees himself as a servant leader, serving all beef producers across the country. He believes he’s put together a professional staff that he’s extremely proud of and thinks producers should be too.

Tom details a number of major projects that have been worked on in the past year and says that the Office of Inspector General has selected the Beef Checkoff for an audit this year. To date though the staff have not received any requests for information or a time frame on when auditors would begin their work.

Tom says that in the last six months he thinks “the biggest challenge we have faced is our own anxiety, of our future, of change, of the unknown.” He says the industry is under siege on many fronts and the future is unclear and this is frightening. But he says that by embracing change and looking to the future confidently while trusting each other and working for the good of the whole amazing things happen.

You can listen to Tom’s report here: CBB Management Report

You can find a lot more reports on Beef Board activities at MyBeefCheckoffMeeting.com, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board Blog!

2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

New Beef Ambassadors

Chuck Zimmerman

Members of the new team of National Beef Ambassadors showed up at the Cattle Industry Convention. Pictured are (l-r) Kelli Fulkerson, Michigan, Jessica Sweet, California, Kristen Stufft, Pennsylvania and Austin Joyce, Texas. Not with us is Maddy Ruble, South Dakota. I interviewed them all together.

I first asked them why they chose to pursue becoming a beef ambassador and you’ll hear some very different answers. The team is obviously very passionate about the beef industry and I think they’ll be good advocates for us. We also talked about the events they’ll be going to and they made a point of saying that if anyone has ideas for a place they should be to please contact the American National CattleWomen. Please check out the Beef Ambassador Blog too!

You can listen to my interview with the new Ambassadors here: Beef Ambassadors Interview

2011 Cattle Industry Convention Photos

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

NCBA Committee Considers Cattle Health Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

Government activities that affect cattle producers and cattle health were among the topics discussed at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Cattle Health and Well-Being Policy Committee Friday at the Cattle Industry Convention in Denver.

Committee chairman Tom Talbot, a veterinarian and cow-calf operator from California, says the committee’s objective is to provide guidance and develop policy to ensure cattle health and well-being issues are addressed in an efficient and effective manner to maintain the health and quality care of cattle; and to provide consumers consistent, high quality, safe and wholesome beef. “The majority of things that we talk about are things that affect each and every producer across the United States,” he said.

During Friday’s meeting, Devin Koontz, with the Food and Drug Administration’s district office in Denver, updated the committee on the FDA’s draft guidance on antimicrobial resistance. Brian McCluskey, western region director of APHIS’ Veterinary Services, was on hand to provide an update from APHIS.

The committee also heard about herd health management from Dr. Dan Thomson of Kansas State University, and Dr. Guy Longeragan from Texas Tech University gave an update on the current state of the science regarding pre-harvest tools. Read more about the meeting here.

“Obviously, animal health, food safety and animal welfare all come under cattle health,” Tom said. “We want the consumer to know that we do our best to make sure that the product comes out at the end is extremely healthy and safe and has been handled well its entire life.” Tom is pictured here with NCBA staff veterinarian Dr. Elizabeth Parker.

Listen or download my interview with Tom here: Interview with Tom Talbot
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NCBA PAC Auction Raises $50,000

Cindy Zimmerman

Karl Rove helped the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association raise more than $50,000 for the organization’s Political Action Committee (PAC) during the Thursday general session.

In addition to several great packages already on the auction list, Rove donated a vacation at his personal Florida panhandle property – which ultimately sold for almost $10,000.

During his address just prior to the auction, the former White House advisor mentioned the importance of the political action committee for a policy organization like NCBA that is working daily for the interests of cattle producers in the nation’s capitol. “You want to have a role, you want to have a voice, you want to have an influence in making our country what you want it to be,” Rove said. “The first thing you ought to do is you ought to write a check to the PAC.”

Thanks to Karl’s generous contribution and NCBA Communications Director Mike Deering’s enthusiastic auctioneering, the PAC has a few more dollars for lobbying efforts on behalf of the cattle industry in Washington. If you want to help, contributions to the PAC can now be made on-line.

Watch Mike the auctioneer at work here:

Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

NCBA CEO Says Industry is Optimistic

Cindy Zimmerman

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
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