Well by now a lot of you readers and myself have enjoyed the high prices received by Nevada calves at private treaty and summer auctions. Attending the Superior Video Royale in Winnemucca, the friends and others I visited with were all very pleased with the results, and by the way, deservedly so. The marketing experts I have talked with this summer are cautiously optimistic this calf market will last for at least another year and possibly longer. I am sure most of you have read about the factors contributing to this optimism.
Factors I have read or heard about are the nation’s cow herd is at its lowest point in a generation, not many heifers are being retained, the drought in the west has been broken or at least slowed and therefore there is a stocker market again and even though fed cattle supplies remain tight, demand for the product is still high with customers paying premium prices for quality.
Yes therefore, there are some sighs of relief in the country, but I also shared stories with friends in Winnemucca about the toughest winter many of us had ever experienced and all the logistical, health and death loss problems many ranchers here in Nevada and the west experienced.
I guess this is solid evidence that in the best of times being in agriculture is a challenge. I believe the experience of this past year supports that notion. The calf market has been great, but the winter and spring weather has been tough to deal with.
But there are also other challenges with which ranchers must negotiate and that is what I would like us to pay attention to, and not lose sight of the bigger picture. Before I get into a discussion of some of the other challenges, I want to give a shout out to industry organizations who are dealing with these issues daily and without whom agriculture would be in a very negative place. If you aren’t a member of one or more of these groups, you should be because you can’t operate your businesses and work on these other issues with the full-time effort they require.
For ranchers grazing livestock on the federal lands primarily in the west, the Public Lands Council is the premier advocate in Congress and the land management agencies. The National Cattlemen’ s Beef Association (NCBA) is also the largest and most effective advocate for the beef industry in Washington D.C. and across the country. Furthermore, as a contractor for the Beef Checkoff, NCBA has helped create programs funded by the Beef Checkoff to advertise, educate and promote all the good that has been done for the beef industry because of the Checkoff. In addition, the Policy Division of NCBA has lobbied in Washington D.C. to advance or defeat legislation impacting the beef industry in positive and negative ways, and to interact with relevant Federal Agencies.
The American Sheep Industry (ASI) has a strong presence in Washington D.C. This is also true of the American Farm Bureau as well as being a contractor to the Checkoff. Furthermore, some of these same National Groups provide advice and council to state beef organizations.
All these associations develop their public policy positions from the ground up. For instance, in my own personal experience, I have seen this grass roots process at both the state and national level and here in Nevada I have seen the Farm Bureau develop and implement its policy from the local level to the state and national organizations. The criticisms one reads about these big associations being top- level driven are just not true. I spent over twenty years in leadership positions at the state and national levels in beef industry organizations as a President, Committee Chair, Regional Vice-President and National Treasurer. I was never pressured by the top Officers or paid leadership of any organization to take certain positions or push certain agendas that weren’t supported by grass-roots votes. Anyone who alleges this is not the case about organizations I have been involved with are lying and misleading in their efforts.
The list of issues these associations are dealing with is a long one. For instance, the Farm Bill, which is normally a bipartisan effort in Congress, is currently tied up in partisan wrangling and is due to be passed this year. That may not happen and if Congress can’t reconcile its differences, the current Farm Bill will remain in force.
We’ve recently seen six western Governors send a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland criticizing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed new Public Lands Rule to make conservation a designated multiple use which could potentially interfere with existing permitted uses already subject to conservation conditions. This effort is only going to create more confusion in an already confusing use situation by the general public and permittees. The involvement and vigilance of the mentioned associations is critical to a successful outcome.
NCBA is working on all the issues related to lab created meat including inspection of facilities and product, ingredient labeling and advertising. This is an especially important issue because potential consumers of these lab manufactured, and plant-based products need to know that the most sustainable and environmentally beneficial way to obtain protein from beef is that which comes from an animal which spends most of its life grazing and helping to store and fix carbon to the soil.
Animal welfare continues to be an issue of critical concern for the buying public, especially among younger consumers. NCBA has been a leader in this area with its Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program teaching ranchers and their employees about the benefits of safe and quiet livestock handling techniques and processes.
Along those same lines, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NCBA has developed and maintained for many years the Environmental Stewardship Award which each year recognizes seven regional award winners from whom a National Award Winner is chosen. These beef cattle operations are examples of many other farms and ranches across the country who demonstrate the great contribution the beef industry makes to a sustainable environment. Sustainability is not just about protecting the environment. For the industry to be sustainable ranches and farms must be financially profitable and protected for future generations. The organizations mentioned above are working every day to make sure that our country is secure in our own food supply and those that create that supply are around for the next generation and beyond.
I would encourage readers to learn more about these organizations and join them if you are not already a member.
I’ll see you soon.