IN IT TOGETHER
Doing more together than apart by 2021 NCBA President Jerry Bohn A year ago, much of our nation’s public life was still shadowed by uncertainty. Many states that had been shut down due to COVID-19 were working through a patchwork of re-openings. In Washington, the transition to a new administration was marred by chaos and destruction. Across the country, cattle producers were still in the thick of the upheaval brought about by a global pandemic, black swan events and extreme weather conditions. NCBA’s top priority for 2021 was to help improve the business climate for our producers. We also recognized the urgency of building relationships in the new political environment that would allow us to effectively fight for our members’ interests and defend the wins secured under the previous administration. Today, we still have work to do, but I am proud of the progress we have made. Working with partners in Congress and USDA, NCBA helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for independent and regional beef processing plants. These funds are specifically marked out to expand capacity among small facilities, and our vice president Todd Wilkinson testified on Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers that not one cent of this money should go to the major packers who don’t need it. This is a critical step in relieving the bottleneck between beef demand and live cattle supply. Negotiated trade volumes are up considerably compared to years past, and multiple market analysts and economists credit this uptick to the work of NCBA’s Regional Triggers Subgroup and our state affiliates. Our work on the voluntary framework made a tangible impact on the level of robust price discovery across the
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industry. NCBA also successfully advocated for greater transparency in the cattle markets. We secured the House introduction of the Cattle Contract Library Act and led the charge on Capitol Hill for reauthorization of LMR, which is the most fundamental tool producers have for exerting leverage in negotiations with packers. Thanks to our persistent work, the House passed both measures last month with overwhelming bipartisan support. As lawmakers debated passing tax hikes that would be fatal for thousands of family-owned farms and ranches, NCBA mounted our largest-ever grassroots campaign to oppose them. Thanks in large part to our efforts and the firsthand testimonies of more than 1,800 producers, the version of the reconciliation package that passed the U.S. House of Representatives left crucial tax provisions like stepped-up basis and like-kind exchanges intact. From the moment President Biden announced his “30x30” conservation agenda, NCBA was at the White House, USDA, EPA and Department of Interior making the case for the voluntary conservation work that our members do every day. We advocated fiercely to defend your private property rights and delivered the message repeatedly to every policymaker in town – “grazing is good.” Our work to raise awareness and educate on the good work of cattle producers has been crucial in slowly but surely changing the national narrative around cattle and climate change. ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
VOLUME 8
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FEBRUARY 2022
