RISING TO THE TOP in the Big Easy

Traceability, California leaders and the hit show Yellowstone make headlines at the 2023 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Tradeshow

by CCA Director of Communications Katie Roberti

The 2023 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Tradeshow headed back to New Orleans in early February—the first time the gathering has been held in “The Big Easy,” as the city is commonly referred to, since 2019. Notably, past CCA president and California rancher Kevin Kester, Parkfield, was NCBA’s outgoing president the last time the event was held in New Orleans.

Plenty of seafood, jazz music, visits to historic sites and beignets were consumed by almost 7,000 cattlemen, cattlewomen, allied industry professionals and friends of the industry, including over 100 Californians, who made their way to Louisiana for the multi-day event. However, sandwiched between all the fun and treats, attendees partook in hours of meetings accomplishing the business that needed to get done.

Top Priorities

NCBA’s 2023 policy priorities were released on Wednesday of the convention week following the approval of the Association’s executive committee.

“Our focus is helping to create opportunity for America’s cattle producers and fighting to make sure the federal government does not damage our industry,” NCBA’s 2023 President Todd Wilkinson said. “Cattle producers have been caretakers of the land and livestock for decades and are committed to conserving this country’s natural resources while producing high-quality beef.”

As outlined in a press release from NCBA, the policy priorities for the year ahead are:

• Securing reauthorization of animal health provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill and advocating for expanded funding of the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (NAVVCB) to protect against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD);

• Protecting and funding EQIP, CSP and other voluntary conservation programs that incentivize science-based, active management of natural resources;

• Protecting the cattle industry from regulatory attacks under Waters of the United States, the Endangered Species Act, emissions reporting and more.

The day before being announced, these priorities, among others, were previewed for attendees by eight staff members of NCBA’s Washington, D.C., office. During this “D.C. Issues Update,” attendees heard what exactly NCBA has been focusing on and will be keeping their eyes on in the months to come as the second half of the Biden Administration’s term plays out. NCBA’s Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane moderated the conversation, bringing up these policy priorities and others that the staff is prioritizing. Additionally, attendees could ask follow-up questions at the end of the session.

Cattle markets, climate and natural resources, international trade and a host of other subjects continued to be addressed throughout the week. However, each year at this annual meeting, one or two topics usually rise to the top and stand out. At the 2021 and 2022 Cattle Industry Conventions, policies on live cattle marketing led deliberations.

Producer probability and markets discussions continued in New Orleans—especially with USDA’s launch of the Cattle Contract Library Program coincidently occurring on the same day the convention kicked off. However, traceability dominated from the beginning to the end of this year’s gathering. While traceability discussions are not new to CCA, NCBA or other industry meetings, conversation at this event focused on two sides of the subject: USDA’s recent proposed rule and the increased industry-led pushes for improvements.

On the regulatory front, USDA’s proposed rule on the “Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison,” released in January, received significant attention. From the industry side of the issue, there was an apparent, heightened urgency from leaders within NCBA to make progress on where the country is currently at when it comes to the ability to trace the nation’s cowherd, should an outbreak of disease occur in the United States. The potential crisis of foot-and-mouth disease entering the country remains at the top of industry concerns and was consistently a discussion point when talking about traceability throughout the week.

To explain what the term “traceability” means and breakdown why discussions on it picked up at this meeting, past CCA president, Inyo County cattle rancher and veterinarian Tom Talbot, DVM, Bishop, was the featured guest on an episode of Sorting Pen: The California Cattleman Podcast that was recorded at the event.

“I think when we talk about traceability, we have to understand the reason we are talking about traceability,” Talbot said. “The major reason is that in the case of the introduction of a foreign animal disease into this country, we want to be able to trace the origin of that disease. So, the goal with traceability is to be able to get our arms wrapped around a foreign animal disease event and reduce the impact that it will have on cattle producers throughout the United States.”

Talbot is one of more than a dozen leaders from across the country who make up the members of NCBA’s Animal Disease Traceability Working Group, chaired by Todd Wilkinson, the incoming NCBA

President at this year’s event.

“The goal of this traceability taskforce was to basically establish what issues that NCBA could go along with so that as we move forward and make comments and engage with USDA on the proposed rule, that the discussions that our staff at NCBA could have would be compatible with what our policy with NCBA is. We have tried to establish policy that NCBA can support, that will allow us to move forward to engage with USDA on the proposed rule.”

Immediately following the D.C. Issues Update with NCBA staff on Tuesday, California attendees participated in NCBA’s Region VI meeting with other producers and leaders from Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, where the discussion on traceability continued. The attendees of this regional meeting heard an extensive traceability update from a leading expert on the topic, as he happens to ranch within the area of NCBA’s Region VI. Nevada cattle rancher and recently appointed director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture, J.J. Goicoechea, DVM, who serves as this region’s policy chair, thoroughly previewed why traceability would be a key topic of discussion at the event in the days to come.

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As expected, traceability talks continued Wednesday during the NCBA Agriculture and Food Policy committee. The topic was front and center on Friday morning, with a panel discussion on the final day’s morning session. Goicoechea, NCBA’s Senior Director of Government Affairs Tanner Beymer and NCBA’s 2023 President Todd Wilkinson talked through the issue from many different perspectives, with NCBA’s Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane moderating the discussion.

To hear a full update on the subject with Talbot, tune into the podcast episode “Sorting through talks on traceability from the 2023 Cattle Industry Convention,” recorded immediately following the traceability panel. CCA officers and cattle producers Rick Roberti, Loyalton, and Bev Bigger, Ventura, are also featured on the episode asking a few traceability questions of their own.

Additionally, on the podcast, another episode recorded during the meetings exclusive to Sorting Pen was a conversation with the Public Land Council and NCBA’s Natural Resources Associate Director Sigrid Johannes. On this episode, listeners can hear what the Public Lands Council and NCBA are working on in D.C. on behalf of California ranchers on both public and private lands. The two regulatory lawsuits NCBA recently filed in January against the Biden Administration are also discussed in this episode.

Californians Shine

Throughout the week, Californians were at the center of both business meetings focused on policy priorities and other activities. As expected, NCBA’s Cattlemen’s College, sponsored by Zoetis, was once again packed full of 18 sessions available for attendees to participate in at the beginning of the week. Los Angeles County cattle rancher Mike Williams and University of California Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Ventura County Livestock and Range Advisor Matthew Shapero led one of the sessions offered in the “Latest in Grazing” track of this year’s

Cattlemen’s College. The two Californians answered, “Can stockmanship be a practical and effective tool for managing timing, intensity and distribution of cattle grazing?”

CCA officers and California producers engaged in NCBA’s policy meetings, which included helping fill another room for NCBA’s Live Cattle Marketing committee meeting. Of note from other policy meetings, immediate past CCA president Tony Toso, Hornitos, partook in his first meeting as vice chair of NCBA’s International Trade committee. Toso was announced as one of NCBA’s policy leaders earlier this year.

Holly Foster, Oroville, was elected the vice chair of NCBA’s Livestock Marketing Council. According to NCBA this council:

• Provides livestock marketing professionals the opportunity to join and actively participate in NCBA and the beef industry policy development process;

• Focuses specifically on policy, regulations and legislation that directly impact the marketing segment of the beef industry;

• Functions similar to state cattlemen’s association affiliates of NCBA and has a seat on the NCBA Board of Directors, the NCBA Executive Committee and all NCBA policy committees.

Additionally serving in a leadership capacity, Mike Smith, Selma, was elected as NCBA Region VI’s Federation Division Chair during this year’s regional meetings. Smith will serve as the chair for the next two years. Nevada rancher Goicoechea will continue to serve as the region’s policy committee chair for another year.

In the tradeshow, UC Davis doctorate. student in the Department of Animal Science Sebastian Mejia Turicios spoke about advocating for the industry at NCBA’s Cattle Chats booth. The 20-minute chats at this booth gave “busy attendees quick and informative information focused on the ag and beef industry, with special spotlight sessions focusing on sustainability.” Turicios is one of 10 advocates in the

Beef Checkoff’s 2022 Trailblazer program “created in 2021 to support the efforts of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, in identifying, recruiting, empowering, and engaging with advocates in the beef community.”

Last but not least, at the closing general session focused on celebrating the excellence of the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program, Fresno Livestock Commission was honored with the 2023 BQA Marketer Award. This was one of five BQA awards presented that evening.

“Owned and operated by father-daughter pair Phil and Cindy Tews since 1990, Fresno Livestock caters to the small, everyday grower selling 10 or fewer calves per year,” The Beef Checkoff said in a press release announcing the 2023 BQA winners. “With a passion for advocacy, Cindy takes a hands-on approach to implement BQA at Fresno Livestock. Located within a county that has one million people, Fresno Livestock Commission also has the notable opportunity to educate and engage with a diverse population. Cindy and her staff spend untold hours visiting with buyers and sellers alike. They help facilitate relationships with veterinarians, haulers and even provide a BQA-certified crew for hire during branding, vaccinating, shipping and other activities.”

Cindy is a past CCA officer and remains engaged with the Association’s efforts regularly. CCA congratulates the Tews family and the entire Fresno Livestock Commission team on this national honor.

Participating in some of the convention fun was CCA’s Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur, who ran in the annual BEEFit 5k Run alongside a few California producers. As many CCA members may already know, Wilbur is an avid runner. He made it onto the podium for a bronze medal in this race.

Superstars

While many Californians shined at this year’s event, a few superstars did as well. The Opening

General Session was standing room only as Taylor Sheridan, the creator of Yellowstone, the most popular television show in America, spoke. Sheridan shared his purpose for creating the show, including his goal of making it “cool to be cowboy.” He also talked about running his ranches in Texas and how his two other shows, 1883 and 1923 came to be.

Later in the session, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning also welcomed attendees to New Orleans. Manning shared about his professional football career, stories of his family members and even a little about his son Peyton’s rapport with Tom Brady.

Additional highlights were happenings from the American National CattleWomen’s meetings, Deputy Secretary Jewel H. Bronaugh, Ph.D., speaking at one of the general sessions and the presentation of CattleFax’s 2023 U.S. Protein and Grain Outlook. For details on the outlook CattleFax gave during Thursday’s general session, which projects many positives for cattle producers in the coming months, flip to page 52 of this publication.

Other fun from this year’s event included unique receptions themed around the vibrant culture of New Orleans, hundreds of booths to explore in the tradeshow and a private concert featuring Midland with Neal McCoy to close out the event on Friday evening.

The 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Tradeshow happening from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. will take place in Orlando, Fla. While next year’s annual meeting is on the opposite coast for Californians, the upcoming Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting is taking place July 24-26 in San Diego. Those looking to get more involved can visit ncba.org/events for details on attending the summer meeting. CCA staff and leadership look forward to participating in the discussions to come in July on behalf of the Association and will provide more details on the event as summer approaches.

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