7 minute read
YOUR DUES DOLLARS AT WORK
by CCA Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur
When CCA staff and members departed San Antonio, Texas on Feb. 8, 2020 at the close of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s annual Cattle Industry Convention, none could have predicted how long it would be before we were reunited.
In the months to come, the COVID-19 pandemic would upend the industry, bottlenecking the beef supply chain, disrupting cattle markets and leaving state and federal policymakers scrambling to provide relief as agricultural producers nationwide worked tirelessly to sustain their livelihoods.
And, of course, COVID-19 upended our ability to gather with our friends and colleagues. NCBA’s Legislative Conference – scheduled for March 2020 – was the first to fall. CCA was forced to cancel our annual Steak and Eggs Legislative Breakfast and lobby day, as well as the 2020 Midyear Meeting. CCA’s Annual Convention went virtual, as did countless other local, state and national gatherings. As the pandemic dragged well into 2020 with no end in sight, NCBA delayed its 2021 Cattle Industry Convention.
So, when the opportunity finally came last month for ranchers nationwide to finally gather again in Nashville, Tenn., between Tuesday, August 10 and Thursday, August 12, more than 6,000 beef producers – including your CCA staff and dozens of California cattlemen and women – jumped at the opportunity. And while it was a wonderful opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the company of friends and colleagues longseparated, it was also an opportunity for ranchers nationwide to get up to speed on pressing issues facing the industry and to set important policy priorities.
Below are some of the highlights from each of the three days of the 2021 Cattle Industry Convention.
...CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Live Cattle Marketing
Likely the most popular policy committee meeting of the Cattle Industry Convention was the Live Cattle Marketing Committee meeting. Held on Tuesday afternoon, the Live Cattle Marketing meeting was standing-roomonly, with healthy representation from the California delegation, including CCA’s Price Discovery Subcommittee Chair Seth Scribner, Paso Robles. Ahead of the Cattle Industry Convention, CCA submitted a policy for consideration by NCBA’s Live Cattle Marketing Committee – initially developed by CCA’s Price Discovery Subcommittee – regarding NCBA support for voluntary negotiated grid base pricing of fed cattle. According to NCBA’s Director of Government Affairs and Market Regulatory Policy, Tanner Beymer, CCA’s policy proposal was one of “about five resolutions that got submitted ahead of this meeting for consideration by the Committee.”
What emerged from the Live Cattle Marketing meeting was something of a composite of the various policies advanced by state affiliates: “What they ended up doing is saying, ‘look, we’ve made significant progress on price discovery…but we need to start looking at some of these other market drivers: transparency, confidentiality, some of those types of issues,’” said Beymer. “So the policy that was adopted by the committee…directs the [NCBA] staff to put together a working group of producers to explore some of the non-price-discovery-related market drivers so that we can, again, add more arrows into the quiver of what is going to be a multi-faceted approach to trying to bring about a better cattle marketing environment.”
Among other marketing updates – including ongoing federal efforts to increase beef processing capacity – the Live Cattle Marketing meeting also highlighted two new reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service that will enhance market transparency. The first, the National Daily Direct Formula Base Cattle report, will report base prices for formula
...In performance, maternal, carcass and convenience traits!
GB L1 DOM PRCS 536Y GB L1 DOMINO 762E
These are the type of animals that we continue to build our program around. Low maintenance, easy calving, performance with strong maternal and carcass traits, without sacrificing soundness and genetic predictability. Contact us today about bulls of this kind and quality to add heterosis to your cowherd!
A big Selection of Coming Two Year Old and Spring Yearling Bulls Available by private treaty Now!
Complete performance and ultrasound tested with a powerful cowherd and generations of quality behind them. They will produce baldy replacements built for longevity! Pedretti Ranches
Registered Herefords Since 1946
Gino Pedretti����������������������������������������������������209/756-1609 Mark St� Pierre �������������������������������������������������209/233-1406 Gino Pedretti Jr������������������������������������������������209/756-2088 Gino Pedretti III������������������������������������������������209/756-1612 E-mail���������������������������GBL1domino@sbcglobal�net
transactions so that producers can compare those against the cash market numbers, or the bases, for negotiated grids. The second, the Weekly Price Net Distribution report, will report the net prices from all of the transaction types in increments of $2 per hundredweight, which Beymer noted will allow producers to compare their method of marketing to others’ and provide opportunities to capture greater value.
Industry Outlook
Wednesday morning brought one of the most popular recurring features of the annual Cattle Industry Convention: the CattleFax Outlook Seminar.
CattleFax CEO Randy Blach detailed how the cattle industry is bouncing back from the pandemic and is expected to maintain that momentum heading into 2022. Blach highlighted the current strength of the beef cattle industry, noting that beef prices are near record highs and that both consumer and wholesale demand for beef are at 30-year highs.
Of course, as noted by CattleFax’s vice president of industry relations and analysis Kevin Good, there are significant challenges facing cattle producers and impacting cattle supply. “As drought, market volatility and processing capacity challenges unnerved producers over the past 24 months, the industry is liquidating the beef cowherd which is expected to decline 400,000 head by Jan. 1 reaching 30.7 million head,” Good said.
For a full rundown of CattleFax’s Outlook Seminar, see NCBA’s summary at https://www.ncba.org/newsreleases. aspx?NewsID=7511. Sustainability
Perhaps the biggest splash of the Cattle Industry Convention came during a general session on Thursday with the release of the U.S. cattle industry sustainability goals. The most substantial of these goals, developed by NCBA’s Sustainability Goals Task Force, is the pledge to “demonstrate climate neutrality of U.S. cattle production by 2040.”
In a press conference on Thursday, Sustainability Goals Task Force member Brantley Ivey, a beef producer from Virginia, noted that the environmental goal “will focus on continued research, analyzing data and production practices to show that U.S. cattle production is climate neutral, meaning we’re implementing and managing systems that have the potential to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.” Ivey also noted that the effort would seek to quantify environmental practices which “are at the forefront of ranchers’ daily decisions,” such as grazing management, soil health and carbon sequestration.
NCBA also unveiled its “economic goal”: Creating and enhancing opportunities that result in a quantifiable increase in producer profitability and economic sustainability by 2025. To achieve the industry’s environmental goals, NCBA notes that cattle production must remain economically viable.
Finally, CCA’s own Mike Williams, Acton, unveiled the final two of the cattle industry’s sustainability goals. This “social pillar” of the goals includes (1) enhancing trust in cattle producers as responsible stewards of their animals and resources by expanding educational opportunities in animal care and handling programs to further improve animal well-being and (2) continuously improving our industry’s workforce safety and well-being.
“The goals show that U.S. cattle producers are committed and accountable,” Williams said during the press conference. “They can also help to communicate to retailers, consumers and those that are interested how we are operating in a sustainable manner.” Summing up the interrelationship between the social pillar and the Task Force’s environmental goal, Williams concluded that “cattle that are well-cared for are more productive.”
Of course, the Cattle Industry Convention covered dozens of other pressing topics facing the nation’s cattle producers: carbon markets, federal regulations implementing the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act reforms, President Biden’s “America the Beautiful” initiative and wildfires, just to name a few.
More than anything, though, the Cattle Industry Convention was a welcome opportunity for cattlemen across the nation to finally come together with friends after more than a year of separation and celebrate the unique community that makes ranching such an inviting way of life for so many. CCA looks forward to meeting person-toperson with our membership in the months to come!
