In it together to win it together

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 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.

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At Shandar Angus Ranch, we are always trying to produce the most functional, balanced cattle we can. Nearly every one of our customers sell their calves at weaning, so we emphasize performance from birth to weaning. We rmly believe you cannot have an animal grow properly if they aren’t phenotypically correct with a skeleton that can handle accelerated growth, so we also emphasize structural intergrity, base width, strong top lines, and balance. This approach has built a cowherd that produces bulls that can travel, convert, and sustain themselves. Many of our customers run in harsh Utah and Nevada deserts. Our cattle have proven to be able to work in these environments generation after generation.

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While sharing our industry’s sustainability story, NCBA also helped author its next chapter. At our convention in August, we set industry-led sustainability goals that reaffirm our commitment to science-based stewardship. Farmers and ranchers have been leading the way in voluntary conservation in this country for centuries. We are proud to continue that legacy. NCBA strategically engaged in litigation and rulemaking processes in 2021 to fight back against burdensome and harmful environmental regulations. We continued to move the ball forward in court to defend the nationwide delisting of the gray wolf. After the EPA announced their repeal of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), NCBA launched a grassroots campaign to oppose the return of the extreme federal overreach we saw under the 2015 WOTUS rule.

Moving livestock and goods in an efficient, costeffective manner is foundational to the success of our members’ businesses. NCBA succeeded in getting the back-end 150 air-mile exemption for livestock producers passed into law. We were also instrumental in securing an extension of the hours-of-service exemption under the Department of Transportation’s emergency declaration. Our cumulative efforts have helped ensure that grocery store shelves stay fully stocked. While other sectors continued to grapple with shortages of products on shelves, we continued to keep those same shelves stocked with U.S. beef.

Our convention in Nashville attracted more than 6,000 attendees and ensured that the essential business of this association continued on without interruption. Through our work as a Beef Checkoff contractor, NCBA was proud to see domestic demand for beef remain remarkably strong throughout 2021, and we saw soaring demand for our product in export markets around the globe. U.S. beef is what’s for dinner – and lunch and breakfast – for millions of families at home and around the world and NCBA will continue working to keep it that way.

The past year has not been easy, and I am not dismissive of the challenges that lie ahead.

Safeguarding the future of our industry for generations to come is the work of a marathon, not a sprint, but we covered a lot of ground over the course of 2021.

I am optimistic about our industry’s ability to navigate the road ahead. As we engage in policy discussions in Houston this month, it is my hope we can all to work together. We have more things in common than we think, and we all want to pass on a profitable, resilient operation to our children and grandchildren. Making that happen will take all of us, standing together.