NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

50 YEARS OF SHAPING PUBLIC POLICY

by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Chief Executive Officer Colin Woodall

The great 1898 gathering of cattle producers in Denver that established our association declared that one of their objectives would be “to protect cattlemen from the government in Washington.” That objective hasn’t changed much throughout our history, but it wasn’t until the American National Cattlemen’s Association (ANCA) convention in 1970 that the decision was made to open an office in our nation’s capital. C.W. “Bill” McMillan, ANCA’s Executive Vice President at the time, moved from Denver to Washington and rented office space in the National Press Club building two blocks from the White House. In June of 1970, Bill established the full-time cattlemen’s presence that continues today.

Bill is 94 years old and still lives in the D.C. metro area. He tells great stories of being in those smoky back rooms in the U.S. Capitol helping Senators and Representatives understand the impact of their decisions on America’s cattle producers. He shared with me that he never wore a coat or carried a briefcase when he went to the Hill because it made him look like he belonged and allowed him to get into many places most others couldn’t. It even got the U.S. Capitol Police to stop traffic for him so he could cross the street!

After Bill left the National Cattlemen’s Association to join the Reagan Administration, Burton Eller took the reins of the Washington office. Tom Cook followed Burton, and after the 1996 merger creating NCBA, Chandler Keys got the call to lead our public policy efforts. Jay Truitt took over in 2005 followed by Burton’s second stint at the helm. I had the privilege of leading the D.C. office for a decade, and now Ethan Lane is demonstrating his leadership abilities. Each head of the Washington office brought their own unique personality, approach and methods but all of them continued to enhance the reputation of our association.

While the smoky back rooms don’t exist like they used to, NCBA is still the trusted voice of our industry among policy makers and regulators. We use a lot of the same strategies Bill used. In fact, the “old-fashioned” way of lobbying remains the tried-and-true method. Looking people in the eye, being in the right place, shaking hands and letting lawmakers know you are watching, has been critical to NCBA’s track-record of success. You can’t be an effective voice unless you are on the Hill or at the Federal agencies every day. That is what we do.

We are known as the lobbyists who shoot straight, follow through and support our friends and allies. We’re also known as fierce opponents who pull out all the stops to protect our members. We don’t hesitate to call out Members of Congress who take action against our industry, and many 14 California Cattleman December 2020 have learned that lesson the hard way.

There is no such thing as a 40-hour work week in Washington, D.C. Early mornings, late nights, weekends and holidays are the norm. If Congress is still debating an issue at 1:00 a.m., NCBA’s D.C. staff are in the office and on the Hill. When a Farm Bill Conference Committee is taking place, we have staff in the room and outside the doors to answer questions. I remember the 2008 Farm Bill Conference Committee when I got up, went to the front of the room and just stood there during a vote on one of our priority issues so each Senator and Congressman could see me as they voted. We won that vote. Working Christmas 2003 on BSE, New Year’s Eve and Day 2012 to help avert the fiscal cliff and take care of our tax relief priorities, or making the decision to not close our office during the COVID-19 crisis, makes us a dependable resource to policy makers. As you read this, NCBA is still one of the few ag trade association offices that is even open in D.C. We were the ONLY one that never closed.

Richard Nixon was President when our office opened, and NCBA has been in front of every U.S. President since. From Farm Bills, trade agreements, appropriations bills, tax bills and more, NCBA will continue to be the trusted leader and definitive voice of cattle producers in Washington. We are the role model for how an effective public policy office works. NCBA’s Center for Public Policy is effectively positioned to lead for the next 50 years, and much like the objective in 1898, we will work to keep Washington out of your business.

The San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association has selected Steve Arnold of Pozo as the 2020 Cattleman of the Year.

Steve Arnold’s family roots date back over 100 years on the Arnold Ranch, where his great-grandparents, Thomas and Josephine Arnold, settled in 1919.

“My great-grandfather came here from Nebraska in 1913 into Santa Margarita,” Arnold explained. “He came out to Pozo looking to make his fortune in real estate because the road here, the Old Highway 178, goes through Bakersfield out to Ridgecrest, so it was the only road accessing the coast.”

Arnold said his great-grandfather lost the ranch during the Great Depression after subdividing and selling off pieces, but his grandfather bought it all back, and after running cattle during the buildup to World War II, quadrupled the size of the ranch over 10 years.

Growing up, Steve farmed Sudan hay and barley for his grandfather and thought he would always work in agriculture. At age 21, the chance came to manage the La Panza Ranch in Carrisa Plains, and Steve and his wife Debbie left Cal Poly, got married and started ranching.

“We didn’t have a horse trailer, so I staged those horses,” Steve recalled from his days at La Panza Ranch. “The ranch was 16 miles long, and there is a cow camp corral right in the middle, so I left horses at the cow camp and horses at the headquarters. When I’d leave, I’d make those circles, change horses at the camp, and come back the other way home. That’s way back, old-school stuff,” Arnold remembered with a laugh.

After the La Panza ranch ownership changed, Steve worked at the sales yard in Templeton for a year under Dick Nock. “Dick gave me experience at the sales yard and taught me a lot of lessons, Arnold said. “Number one, I learned I didn’t want to be up at the sales yard! The hours were long, I think I had 12 hours off a week.”

After spending a couple of years on a ranch in San Simeon, Arnold spent a decade working for Bob Morrison at Camatta Ranch. It was this work experience that put him on a path of leadership in the agriculture industry.

“Bob Morrison was always taking me to Cattlemen’s meetings, and that’s when I met California Cattlemen’s Association Executive Director John Brawley,” Arnold said. “John had been in the California Agricultural Leadership Program, and he encouraged me to apply for the next class. What he didn’t tell me was that the application packet was like 30 pages long, and so I said to heck with it. Well, months passed, and Brawley found out I hadn’t submitted my application, and he chewed me up and down! I told him I would consider applying next year, and I did.”

In 1989, Arnold was accepted into Class 20 of the leadership program. “Ag Leadership launched this whole journey for me,” Arnold maintained. “From all the places our class travelled and all the people I met in farming and ranching, I started to understand why it’s so important to get involved and be an advocate.”

His extensive record of volunteer leadership included serving as President of the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau from 1995-1997, California Farm Bureau board member from 2010-2016, and President of the San Luis 16 California Cattleman December 2020 Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association from 2015-2016.

Steve Arnold said he was fortunate to have several mentors that influenced his career and industry leadership. “My dad and grandad had a big influence on me obviously, but also guys like John Lacey, Alex Madonna, Darrell Twisselman, Bob Morrison, John Brawley and others.”

He was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Mid-State Fair Board STEVE ARNOLD of Directors and served as President in 2010. In 2015, Steve Arnold was inducted into the Mid-State Fair Hall of Fame.

Around 1991, the Arnolds left Camatta Ranch and built a house on the family ranch in Pozo.

In 1995, Steve connected with the Robert Mondavi wine group after planting his first vineyard. The day the Mondavi representatives came to look at their field of grapes, weather conditions were unusually favorable for Pozo—85 degrees with a wall of fog from the coast. “I had a contract in my mailbox three or four days later,” Steve said with a laugh. “But it took me a few weeks to sign it, because I’m thinking, shoot, I have no clue what I’m doing. I had never touched a grape other than to eat one.” The Arnolds grew grapes for Mondavi for ten years.

When the grape market started to slide around 2002, Steve’s son Joey started making his own wine with a friend from college. “I sent Joey a ton of Zinfandel grapes, and it turned out pretty good. The next year we launched our wine label.”

Steve’s wife Debbie intended to get involved at the winery after selling her longtime preschool business, but unexpectedly got drafted into a public service career instead with Mike Ryan. She then worked for Assemblyman, and later Senator, Sam Blakeslee, before being elected to her current role as a County Supervisor.

The Arnolds two children, Joey Arnold and Michelle Pascoe, returned to the family ranch business after graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, along with their spouses Jessica Arnold and Ryan Pascoe.

Today, Arnold stays busy as a board member of the San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association, Second Vice President of the California Cattlemen’s Association, and as a member of Rancheros Vistadores. He enjoys working alongside his family raising commercial beef cattle, forage hay and quarter horses, producing estate wine for their “Vintage Cowboy Winery” brand, managing a fencing business and spending time with his four granddaughters.

“If you go back and look at the past winners of Cattleman of the Year, it’s a pretty big honor,” Arnold said. “My dad is on that list, my Aunt Jo Ann (Switzer) is also on it, and so many others that I respect.”

San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association has given the Cattleman of the Year award annually since 1963, making Arnold the 57th person to receive this honor.

In late October, the America’s Conservation as it happens, ultimately resulting in fewer affected calves. Enhancement (ACE) Act passed both chambers of Congress This bill also recognizes an issue that is likely to become thereby taking a meaningful step in the long journey to increasingly evident to livestock producers nationwide. the White House to be signed into law. Tucked between Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a disease that affects a number of provisions that reauthorize large, sweeping cervids like deer, moose, elk and caribou. The ACE Act conservation programs are a few key provisions that recognizes that CWD poses significant scientific and policy provide direct benefit to livestock producers. The bill tackles the challenge of depredation by addressing depredation payments and permits and natural resource issues. Depredation payments are often a financial burden borne by states, despite the federal government protecting the species that caused the livestock damage. This bill creates a grant program for states and other entities challenges, so the legislation created a task force to develop a comprehensive strategy for prevention, containment, and remediation with all the right stakeholders at the table. As livestock producers know, it is much easier to bring a solution to Congress than for Congress to mandate a particular course of action. to provide payments to livestock producers who have lost animals due to depredation by federally-protected species. The depredation grants created by the ACE Act will fund payments to producers who experience losses caused by animals CATTLEMEN’S LIVESTOCK MARKET REPRESENTATIVES protected by the Endangered Species Act, JAKE PARNELL like wolves and bears, as well as animals 916-662-1298 protected by other federal laws, like the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Depredation GEORGE GOOKIN 209-482-1648 can happen at any time, but typically REX WHITTLE occurs when livestock are most vulnerable: 209-996-6994 during calving and lambing season. While some producers may think large predators present the biggest threat, others like MARK FISCHER 209-768-6522 Join Us Ringside Wednesdays at 12 p.m. vultures and ravens are also dangerous to livestock operations. Both birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and protections have allowed numbers to grow rapidly with few tools to prevent KRIS GUDEL 916-208-7258 STEVE BIANCHI 707-484-3903 DECEMBER 2 DECEMBER 16 No Sales on the Wednesday before Christmas and New Year’s overpopulation and other challenges that accompany large flocks of predatory birds. JOE GATES 707-694-3063 FIRST SALE OF 2021: JANUARY 6 NCBA and the Public Lands Council (PLC) both were driving forces on Capitol Hill JASON DAILEY 916-439-7761 moving this legislation forward, because above all, producers want increased BRETT FRIEND certainty and less government intervention 510-685-4870 in their operations. In addition to creating the grant program for depredation payments for WEDNESDAY WEEKLY SCHEDULE federally-protected species, the ACE Act Butcher Cows.........8:30 a.m. also recognizes the need to have tools to Pairs/Bred Cows..11:30 a.m. manage the specific challenges presented Feeder Cattle ..............12 p.m. by vultures and ravens. While federal law allows for limited numbers of permits to AUCTION MARKET address problem birds, there are too few 12495 Stockton Blvd. permits and the process is too slow. NCBA Galt, California 95632 and PLC have told Congress and federal agencies this for years. The ACE Act delivers much-needed improvements to the Office..............209-745-1515 Fax .................. 209-745-1582 permitting process. The bill allows historic Website ..................clmgalt.com depredation to be considered when a Webcast....lmaauctions.com producer applies for a depredation permit, meaning that producers should see a reduction in time it takes to have the permit approved. Having tools approved earlier UPCOMING WESTERN VIDEO MARKET SALES: January 3 •January 23 THD © and� HAPPY NEW YEAR means producers can address depredation December 2020 California Cattleman 17