LMD March 24

Saying things that need to be said.

MARCH 15, 2024 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 66 • No. 3

What’s Left of Us

BY LEE PITTS

I’ve always been a little off in my timing. Take the cattle business for example. We took over this newspaper one month short of forty years ago and the population of cattlemen in this country immediately went into a death spiral that has continued unabated to this day.

Bill Bullard, the CEO of R-CALF crunched the numbers contained in the recently released 2022 Census of Agriculture and found America lost nearly 107,000 beef cattle farms and ranches in just the past five years. The U.S. has now lost 665,000 beef cattle operations from 1980 until now. “That means,” said Bullard, “we’ve now lost well over half of all U.S. beef cattle farms and ranches in just over a generation and more than 5 of every 10 beef cattle farmers and ranchers in business in 1980 are gone today.”

inventory, at only 5.1 million head in 2022, likewise represents the smallest U.S. sheep herd in decades. We’ve now lost more than 6 of every 10 fulltime sheep producers that were in business just over a generation ago.”

Put a face, perhaps your neighbors, to all these numbers and the facts become downright depressing. But wait, the news gets even worse. The loss of ranchers is accelerating at

According to Bullard, “The U.S. beef cow herd has declined another 2.5 million cows, representing an eight percent reduction in the beef cow herd since 2017, and resulting in the smallest beef cow herd in decades.”

Cattlemen aren’t the only ones going out of business, Bullard said the situation in the sheep industry is even worse.

“The new sheep and lambs census reveals that nearly 500 fulltime sheep producers (those with a herd size of at least 100 head) have exited the industry since 2017, and the U.S. sheep

Wanna Bet?

So let’s explore a few of the reasons our herd is thinning and the best place to start is the number one reason there are far fewer of us.

Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.

an alarming rate and if it keeps up in the direction it’s going, in 30 years there won’t be a single American cattleman left.

I’m just glad I’ll be long gone by then because I don’t want to live in a world without cowboys.

During the past 40 years we’re sure you’ve grown tired of our singing a constant song that the same thing could happen to the cattle industry as has happened to the poultry and pig businesses. But our detractors at the NCBA and elsewhere said, “NO, that couldn’t possibly happen because the cattle business is different, they can’t be raised from birth to death in a small, confined space like pork and poultry. And Tyson can’t buy up every cattle ranch in America.”

Turns out, they didn’t have to.

All the Big Four packers had to do is get a good portion of

State Lawmakers Want to Reintroduce Wolverines to Colorado

BY: SYDNEY ISENBERG, SHANNON OGDEN / DENVER 7

Colorado State lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to reintroduce wolverines to Colorado. Wolverines are not wolves. Instead, they are the largest species of weasel. The animal was all but wiped out in the early 1900s from poisoning by ranchers who were trying to kill bears, mountain lions and wolves. Today there are only about 300 left in the lower 48 states.

Senate Bill 24-171, which is sponsored by Senators Perry Will (R) and Dylan Roberts (D) and Representatives Barbara McLachlan (D) and Tisha Mauro (D), would allow Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) to begin a reintroduction process. Part of that process includes adopting rules for compensating livestock owners who suffer losses due to the wolverine.

The North American wolverine received federal protection under the Endangered Species Act in November 2023. Plans to reintroduce the species in Colorado had been in the works for years but were put on hold while the state waited for the protected status ruling. In a statement to Denver7 in December 2023, CPW said, “We’re evaluating what the decision means for us. It’s been an agency goal for a few years to reintroduce wolver-

ranchers to sign the same type of contracts that our pig and poultry brothers have done. But ranchers would never voluntarily do that, would they? After all, we even shared one 24 page poultry contract with you in which the packer’s responsibilities were outlined and summarized on ONE page. The other 23 pages delineated all the responsibilities of the producer. No, cattlemen in his or her right mind would ever sign a contract like that.

Wanna bet?

Of course, the packer backers don’t call these contracts what they really are... indentured servitude, bondage or serfdom. Instead, they call them something sweet sounding like AMA’s, which stands for alternative marketing arrangements. See how much nicer that resonates? It makes it sound like you have options and alternative choices rather than marrying up with a packer. Call them what you will the fact remains, AMA’s are basically the same contracts the pack-

continued on page 2

Bombshell Report Reveals Biden Has Secretly Flown 320,000 Illegals INTO the United States

BY TYLER DURDEN / ZERO HEDGE

AFreedom of Information Act lawsuit has revealed that the Biden administration has flown at least 320,000 migrants into the United States in an effort to reduce the number of crossings at the southern border, according to Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies.

“The aprogram at the center of the FOIA litigation is perhaps the most enigmatic and least-known of the Biden administration’s uses of the CBP One cellphone scheduling app, even though it is responsible for almost invisibly importing by air 320,000 aliens with no legal right to enter the United States since it got underway in late 2022,” wrote Bensman.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had initially refused to disclose information about the flights, which use a cell phone app, CBP One, to arrange.

“Under these legally dubious parole programs, aliens who cannot legally enter the country use the CBP One app to apply for travel authorization and temporary humanitarian release from those airports. The parole program allows for two-year periods of legal status during which adults are eligible for work authorization,” Bensman continues.

The flights resulted in illegal immigrants be-

continued on page 4 continued on page 3

by LEE PITTS

The Worst Jobs I’ve Ever Had

Here are the ten worst jobs I’ve ever had.

#10 - Turning over hay bales- As a teenager I worked on a ranch hauling hay from the fields to the hay shed. Before the bales could be stacked on the truck the bales had to be turned over so the elevator could pick them up. I walked along kicking over the bales knowing that under one out of ten bales there’d be a snake and in one out of ten of those instances it would be a rattler. Needless to say, it kept me on my toes!

#9 - Smudging- I grew up in the “citrus capital of the world” and one of my jobs in high school was having my own smudge crew. Before it got down to 28 degrees I’d call up my team members and we’d go light smudge pots which burned a thick nasty oil that turned the air black in our valley. I darn near froze to death and I had a smoker’s cough at age 18 without ever having smoked anything. Smudging did have one bright side. The following morning we had to refill the pots and that was an accepted excuse for missing school.

#8 - Mucking out stalls- I liked being around the horses but it was at a riding academy for rich girls. When they’d see me at school they’d look down their snooty noses at me and pinch them as if I stunk. I give this as the reason why I never had a single date in high school.

#7 - Picking lemons- I did this for a rich lady my mom sewed for. I picked with a professional crew who could average 50 boxes per day, while the best I ever got up to was 19. This job also had a good side. The lady saw I was a hard worker and hired me to park cars for her when she had fancy parties. What other 16-year-old can

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ers used to destroy 90 percent of pork producers in America. And it didn’t take them very long to do it!

All the pork packers had to do was change the wording in the contracts that put poultrymen out of business. The pork producers said it would never happen to them and the beef producers to this day continue to say the same thing. We are reminded of the words of a pretty sharp guy by the name of Albert Einstein who once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“Incorporating AMAs has a proven track record,” says R-CALF’s Bullard. “The model works brilliantly…for meatpackers... but not so much for producers or consumers.”

Of course, this was not what the packers predicted. They argued that AMA’s would NOT decrease the number of ranchers and that the only thing they would reduce was the cost to consumers. I sure haven’t experienced any lower prices at the meat counter, have you?

“But it was these promises,” says Bullard, “that got Congress to look the other way as producers continue exiting the industry in droves.”

The packer-backers argued, said Bullard, “That allowing a corporation under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party to acquire the largest pork producing company in the United States – which is Chinese-owned Smithfield Farms, is beneficial because it brings new investments into the U.S. economy. The same can be said for the Brazilian beef packers that control just under half of the fed beef in the United States.”

An Exit Strategy

Fortunately, (but not really), all this voluntary indentured servitude was transpiring at the same time the price for ranches across the country continued on its upward trajectory. The demand for ranch land was, and is, allowing aging ranchers to exit the industry with an experience they never had before: money in their pocket. Lots of money! The tremendous demand for ranch land from folks who aren’t ranchers also allows ranchers with kids who have no desire to subject themselves to the hard life of a rancher, to cash out and split up the proceeds. And in many cases, we’re finding that it only takes one kid out of two who wants their fair share of their parent’s estate in cash to force the sale of a ranch that’s been in the same family for a century or longer.

If you don’t think that ranch land has been a hot commodity for some time now consider that one firm, Charles Middleton and Son, sold 750,000 acres in 2022 for over one billion dollars. Here are a few of their highlights:

■ The Four Sixes $341,837,153 for 266,254 acres in Texas;

■ Boone Pickens Mesa Vista Ranch, $170,000,000 for 64,809 acres in Roberts County, Texas;

■ The Matador Ranch, $124,450,000 for 131,000 acres in Texas;

■ Center Ranch, $43,000,000 for 10,000 acres in Texas;

■ King County Wolf Creek Ranch, $22,576,000 for 20,617,000 acres in Texas;

■ L Bar Ranch in New Mexico $21,693,700 for 36,460 acres;

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It wasn’t just historic or oil-rich ranches like the Four Sixes and The Matador or just Texas ranches that brought silly money. Consider these sales that transpired in the latter half of 2023: an irrigated crop/ranch land in Custer County, Nebraska, sold for $10,100 per acre; 308 acres of dryland cropland and recreational land in Boyd County, Nebraska, sold at simulcast auction for $10,100 per acre. And if you really want to get crazy consider that “a quarter section of dryland with a ranch component went for $14,800 per acre and another recent sale of 73 acres of irrigated ground in Dodge County was put under contract at $17,500 per acre,” according to Paul Scheuring of Farmers National Company.

I wore out two pencils trying to find ranch land in the classifieds that would pencil out solely as a cow ranch and only found a few listings and they all had three things in common. They were in the borderlands, consisted primarily of BLM or Forest Service ground and were in the path of hordes of illegal aliens.

No Better Investment

Who are the people forking over this much money for ag land?

Earlier this year Farmers National Company released a report titled 2024 Brings Resilient Land Market in which Paul Schadegg said he expects the upwards trend for ag land to continue. Buyer motivation varies between a farm operator and a land investor in that a farm operator is typically interested in land that will fit well into their operation, is adjacent to other owned land, or has historical ties. The land investor typically looks for return on investment, a diversification to their investment portfolio, or potential hedge against inflation. One common motivation between these two types of buyers is that land has proven to be a valuable asset due to the historic appreciation in ag land values. Over the past 25 years, average land values have experienced steady growth following the 1980s farm crisis. Buyer demand remains strong while the supply of land for sale remains limited.

“While some landowners are making the decision to take advantage of the current land value strength and sell into a market with a large pool of motivated buyers, other landowners have contemplated the current appreciated value of their land assets and determined there is no better investment than land. These landowners are making the decision to retain ownership and further limit the available properties coming into the market,” said Schadegg.

Evading The Tax Man

As is always the case, the policies of our federal government continue to dictate the sale of ranch land. The estate tax, more accurately known as the “death tax,” in many instances is causing historic ranches to be broken up just to have enough money to pay

the IRS. Some of this land is then developed into commercial property under the 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange.

Janey Knipe of Knipe Land Company explains: “On real property, with some exceptions, you may defer the recognition of capital losses or capital gains due at time of sale, under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States. This allows you to defer capital gains taxes that otherwise would be due. Real property, and some other types of property that are held for the productive use in a trade or business or for investment generally qualify for 1031 tax deferred treatment. Property like stocks, bonds and other types do not qualify. Property is exchanged rather than bought and sold. Exchanged properties must be of ‘like kind.’ In other words, it must be in the same character and nature but are not required to be same quality. This ‘likekind’ is fairly broad for ‘Real’ property and fairly narrow for a business’s personal property. There are many options when exchanging Real Property. You can exchange a ranch for commercial building downtown or a rental home for a farm. Properties being exchanged through a 1031 in the United States must be exchanged for other property in the United States.”

Watch Where You Step

We haven’t even begun to list all the reasons why ranch land and farm ground continue to be good investments. Some of the land is purchased to capitalize on the agri-tourism boom. Some of the land

is purchased for its carbon credits and we can’t discount President Biden’s conservation plan, “30 by 30,” which has a stated goal of conserving 30% of America into some form of “conservation” which translates to mean government owned and NO COWS. Without cows who needs ranchers?

Another government program, the CRP Program, has also reduced the population of cows and cowboys. Other reasons why ranch land has escalated in price includes turning the land into some sort of event venues or “glamping vacation” in which cattlemen are turned into mere tour guides. Many western ranches are being purchased by rich easterners to be used for hunting and fishing and they don’t want to be stepping in any cow pies.

Although Biden would like to get rid of fossil fuels, car and truck buyers aren’t cooperating and even with subsidies, electric vehicles are currently being warehoused on dealer lots for lack of interest which makes land with current or prospective oil and gas production a really hot commodity. Biden’s true believers are also buying up ranches to be used for renewable energy production like wind farms and solar arrays. And while the number of ranchers continues to decline, the look of those cattlemen that remain will appear different. Smart businessmen like John Malone and Bill Gates are buying up land purely as an investment.

Meanwhile, we are losing the infrastructure like auction markets and small-town newspapers that keep small town

America alive. According to ag columnist Alan Guebert, “Nearly 3,000 newspapers, one-fourth of all U.S. newspapers, have closed since 2005 and more than half of U.S. counties have no, or very limited, access to a reliable local news source–either print, digital or broadcast.”

“The alarming contraction of our cattle and sheep industries are a serious threat to our nation’s food security,” says Bill Bullard. “The alarming exodus of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers and the attendant hollowing out of rural communities proves the efficiency worship an abject failure, which too threatens America’s food security. The U.S. is now importing three times the volume of beef and cattle from Canada and Mexico than it exports to them. And, on the world stage, the U.S. has maintained a trade deficit in the trade of cattle and beef every year for the past three decades, averaging well over a billion pounds per year.”

You can expect more of the same.

We haven’t even mentioned two other statistics that speak to our further demise that were contained in the 2022 USDA Census of Ag. Hear this... the average age of farmers and ranchers increased from 56.3 years of age to 57.5 years in just the past four years. Couple that with the finding that young producers, those 35 years old or less, account for just 9 percent of all ranchers and farmers.

Trust me... if a weed or insect had those kind of numbers, they’d be declared an endangered species. ▫

ines.”

“Bringing wolverines back will be a huge win for Colorado’s wildlife and wildlands,” said Stefan Ekernas, director of Colorado Field Conservation at Denver Zoo in a statement. “Denver Zoo supports reintroduction efforts for wolverines that proactively engage communities and stakeholders to unite Coloradoans in bringing this native species back home.”

Wolverines need a lot of snow and high altitude to survive. According to the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Wild, Colorado has the “largest area of unoccupied habitat for wolverines — an estimated 7 million acres, representing 20 percent of all the habitat in the lower 48.”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis is all in on reintroduction.

“The governor continues to join so many Coloradans who share his enthusiasm for reintroducing the native wolverine, last spotted in 2012 in our state, to better restore ecological balance in wild Colorado areas,” a spokesperson for Polis said in a statement to Denver7 in December 2023.

But not everyone is on board. The Wolverine Foundation, a nonprofit organization comprised of wildlife scientists with a common interest in the wolverine, says “not so fast.”

The foundation argues that reintroduction is expensive and traumatic to the individual animals relocated. It also claims reintroduction is unnecessary because the wolverine population is spreading by itself, as proven by a single wolverine that was spotted in Colorado a decade ago.

“My thought is, why not watch this? We want to see expansion happen. We want to bring the wolverine to Colorado because we (humans) want it. It’s probably going to get here on its own,” said Jeff Copeland from The Wolverine Foundation.

The bill will be heard by the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee. ▫

say they drove both a Corvette and a Rolls Royce?

#6 - Compressor plant- I was the assistant to a mechanic in a compressor plant in the oilfields in one of the hottest spots in America. We’d work in short 15-minute bursts inside the plant where it got up to 125 degrees and then run outside to cool down where it was only 115.

#5 - Teaching college- Believe it or not, I taught at a junior college part time. I taught animal science to classes of six or eight urban kids who only took the class because they thought it would be an easy A. I hated teaching, felt guilty taking their money and never gave anyone an A.

#4 - Killing rabbits- One of my more profitable enterprises in high school was raising rabbits to sell to misplaced Okies and Arkies who grew up eating rabbit. The cute white bunnies still visit me in my nightmares.

#3 - Painting trees- Another job in the citrus industry was painting the trunks of lemon trees with a nasty substance that was called something like “boredough.” It stopped ants and spiders from crawling

up the tree trunks and I think it’s the reason I’ve been a chronic in the sick pen most of my life.

#2 - Selling ads- I was hired at the ripe old age of 21 to travel a territory for a livestock paper. I was supposed to sell cattle auction ads in return for my working the upcoming sale as a ring man. My territory included southern California, Arizona, Utah and Clark County, Nevada which contained not a single cow. My commission was 33 percent, but driving two days to Utah and back and paying all my expenses for one third of $350 didn’t seem like a good way to get rich.

#1 - Dusting furniture- I began my career at the age of ten dusting furniture every Friday for my Grandpa who owned a furniture store. On one side of the store were the appliances, couches and carpet which really didn’t require that much dusting. Naturally, my older brother got to dust that side of the store. I had to dust the building next door which contained unfinished wooden furniture, every square inch of which had to be dusted. Rubbing salt in the wound, we both got paid the same dollar.

I’ve never dusted a piece of furniture since then! ▫

ing placed in at least 43 American cities from January through December 2023.

Under the terms of their release, migrants are able to remain in the US for two years without obtaining legal status, and are meanwhile eligible for work authorization.

The Biden administration initially refused to disclose which airports undocumented aliens were being flown into, citing a ‘law enforcement exception,’ new information reveals that the government thought ‘bad actors’ might pose a safety risk or create law enforcement opportunities - with CBP lawyers writing that revealing the specific airports would “reveal information about the relative number of individuals arriving, and thus resources expended at particular airports.”

In response to the CIS report, Elon Musk wrote on X: “Treason indeed! Ushering in vast numbers of illegals is why Secretary Mayorkas was impeached by the House,” adding “They are importing voters. This is why groups on the far left fight so hard to stop voter ID requirements, under the absurd guise of protecting the right to vote.”

Musk also suggested that the national security threat posed by the program makes it “highly probable that the groundwork is being laid for something far worse than 9/11.”

Meanwhile, in 2022 it was revealed that the Biden administration was flying illegal immigrants all over the US on redeye flights, according to the NY Post (and noted by modernity. news) ▫

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Barrasso to Secretary Granholm: End Department’s Support for Communist China

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, outlining specific instances of DOE’s direct collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These meetings featured offers of taxpayer-funded research and development by the U.S. government to Chinese state-owned enterprises, among others.

In the letter, ranking member Barrasso highlights select meetings between DOE officials and members of the CCP that were uncovered by ENR. These meetings have not been publicly disclosed by the DOE, despite extensive coverage of these meetings by Chinese media outlets.

“DOE is openly inviting the compromise of our nation’s taxpayer-funded research, development, and technical expertise. This is a dangerous gamble with our future economic and national security that must end immediately,” Barrasso wrote.

“Despite what Biden Administration officials believe, it is increasingly clear that the CCP’s true intent is not to walk hand-in-hand with the United States towards environmental stewardship. The PRC has brazenly wielded its climate ‘cooperation’ as a tool to insidiously increase its soft power in the West while maintaining an autocratic, dictatorial regime at home. The CCP will undoubtedly siphon even more of America’s technological and intellectual bounty under the guise of good-faith collaboration, just as it has been doing for decades,” the senator also wrote. ▫

Immigration or Invasion? Cancelling the Greatest Culture in the World

BY KATHLEEN MARQUARDT

Our country, our lives, and even our civilization are on the brink of destruction. And what are we doing about it?

Which problem is so dire?

What is the greatest threat to America?

Could it be:

■ our Marxist-driven education system?

■ our federal government handing out billions and trillions of $ to a U.S. puppet president (put into office by a coup staged by the Deep State) of a country, to fight a proxy war for the Deep State and Global Elite?

■ the World Health Organization (WHO), an organ of the United Nations (UN), is being used to take control over all people in all countries in the world (not all have signed on, but the few that haven’t are small and considered insignificant in the whole scheme of things)?

■ the drive to “Sustainable Development”, another scheme to wrest both our individual and national sovereignty?

■ Bill Gates, Black Rock, China, and others are buying up our farm and ranch lands, our single-family homes, and businesses

– which take us closer to owning nothing but our thoughts, in other words, making us slaves,

■ Our federal, democratic republic government has been torn apart and reassembled to be a uni-party, top-down, supposedly democratic socialist tyranny?

No! The greatest threat is unbridled illegal immigration.

I’m not addressing any of those or the innumerable other attacks on our liberty. I’m talking about one of the weapons that has been used for decades to literally destroy Western Civilization – unbridled, illegal immigration – being used in the asymmetrical warfare that is overwhelming the Western governments of the world today.

What is happening today is not new. It has been going on in many places in the world for decades. When I was in Cologne, Germany, in the early ‘70s, I had a conversation with a local couple who were very unhappy with the Turks that had been brought in for much-needed labor. The gist was that the Turks did not have the same values as the natives and were not impelled to comply with German laws and mores, but weren‘t about to leave when their work was finished. And, in France in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there were areas in Paris where non-Muslim people could go at their own risk. It has not stopped, but it has gotten worse. In fact, many Parisians

live in those areas – and watch as their homes and vehicles are burned. And they, themselves, are threatened or attacked for entering their own neighborhoods.

And, remember this? The left-wing French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s editor Stephane Charbonnier known as Charb, and another four cartoonists were called out by name and murdered, along with three other editorial staff and a guest attending the meeting. Before the killers left, twelve people were murdered.

“Witnesses said they had heard the gunmen shouting, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” and “God is Great” in Arabic while calling out the names of the journalists.”

There were other connected attacks (that ended with a huge police operation and two sieges in and around Paris over the next three days. The Charlie attackers were Islamist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi. “Cherif, who also went by the name Abu Issen, had been part of the “Buttes-Chaumont network” that helped send wouldbe jihadists to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq after the US-UK invasion in 2003.”

As it began, if we thought about it at all, most of us thought that it was just an unintended outcome of bringing in laborers from other cultures. Back in the ‘60s, ’70s, ’80s, it would have

continued on page 6

Recall that Trump substantially reduced the size of several monuments in Utah. On December 4, 2017. He traveled to Utah, and in his remarks said:

As many of you know, past administrations have severely abused the purpose, spirit, and intent of a century-old law known as the Antiquities Act. This law requires that only the smallest necessary area be set aside for special protection as national monuments. Unfortunately, previous administrations have ignored the standard and used the law to lock up hundreds of millions of acres of land and water under strict government control.

These abuses of the Antiquities Act give enormous power to faraway bureaucrats at the expense of the

people who actually live here, work here, and make this place their home. This is where they raise their children. This is the place they love.

Your timeless bond with the outdoors should not be replaced with the whims of regulators thousands and thousands of miles away. They don’t know your land, and truly, they don’t care for your land like you do. (Applause). But from now on, that won’t matter. I’ve come to Utah to take a very historic action to reverse federal overreach and restore the rights of this land to your citizens.

On October 7, 2021 Biden reversed Trump’s action and put out a fact sheet stating:

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to better protect, conserve, and restore the lands and waters that sustain the health of communities and power our economy, President Biden will sign three proclamations restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments. By restoring these national monuments, which were significantly cut back during the previous administration, President Biden is fulfilling a key promise and upholding the longstanding principle that America’s national parks, monuments, and other protected areas are to be protected for all time and for all people.

Nominations Now Accepted for WIA Demeter Award of Excellence

Nomination submissions are now being accepted for the 2024 Women in Agribusiness (WIA) Demeter Award of Excellence. Deadline for submission is Friday, June 14.

For more than a decade, the WIA Demeter Award of Excellence has been highlighting women who have excelled in the sector, exhibiting superior performance in their field and/or demonstrating an outstanding contribution to agribusiness. Up to three recipients are selected each year and invited to attend – with complimentary registration – the annual Women in Agribusiness Summit, which will take place this year in Denver, Colorado, September 24-26. There, Demeter Award recipients will be recognized onstage and presented with the award.

Past recipients have been chosen for accomplishments such as: establishing a woman’s network with the goal of advancing women (Meshea Brodie, manager at Bayer CropScience – 2013); transforming the largest farmer co-operative in the UK from operating at a huge loss to ending with an $8 million profit, and a $30 million increase in revenue (Christine Tacon, groceries code adjudicator, UK Regulator – 2018); and, launching accelerators to commercialize early-stage ag technologies and supporting women in their entrepreneurial pursuits (Karen LeVert, venture partner, Pappas Capital – 2022). S

■ Criteria to consider when submitting a nomination are:

■ A minimum of 10 years of experience in the agriculture and/or food industry.

■ Notable professional achievements.

■ An inspiring role model for other women in the industry.

■ Actively dismantles barriers, fosters opportunities, and acts as a valuable resource for others.

■ Consistently exemplifies professionalism.

The state of Utah sued, but lost in the lower court. It appears this will eventually wind up at the Supreme Court.

In their suit, among other claims. Utah says:

The President has abused his authority under 1906 Antiquities Act, which authorizes the president to protect historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures and to reserve parcels of land to protect those items. However, that power is limited to reserving only “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management” of the qualifying items. Utah points out that the acreage in the two monuments under question comprise 3.23 million acres, which is “more than twice the number of total acres in the President’s home state of Delaware (1.53 million acres), more than four times the number of total acres in Rhode Island (787,840 acres), and just smaller than Connecticut (3.55 million acres).”

Utah also claims the Act does not authorize the President to declare entire landscapes as national monuments.

The Supreme Court will have to answer those questions and in so doing impact the status of millions of acres in current national monuments and any further designations in the future.

New Mexico

A group is now proposing a new national monument in Luna County, New Mexico, comprising 245 thousand acres and to be called the Mimbres Peaks National Monument.

It would include the Florida Mountains, Cooke’s Peak and the Tres Hermanas.

A kickoff or campaign meeting was held at the Rockhound State Park on December 6 of last year, Some of those speaking that day were reps from the The Friends of the Floridas, The Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and was led by Las Cruces State Senator Carrie Hamblen who is also President of the Green Chamber of Commerce. This makes you wonder why they didn’t have a state senator from Luna County? We all know why.

The upshot is that none of the ranchers or local legislators were invited to the event. Days later the ranchers did receive a letter advising them of the proposal. The letter was signed by officials with the Friends of the Floridas, the Friends of the Organ Mountains, and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

This whole situation has not set well with many of the Luna County residents.

A rancher, Eddie Mesa, says, “not one rancher in the community knew about this” and “the whole ranching community is against this.”

Russell Johnson, rancher and President of the Luna County Farm & Livestock Bureau, says that even if they don’t ban livestock grazing, “restrictions could become so burdensome that ranchers can’t make improvements and work on water, making it impossible to manage the land. If you can’t manage it, you can’t properly graze it.” Johnson also says, “As a fourth-generation rancher in Luna County, I feel that the knowledge of my ancestors who worked this land

before me cannot be matched. My family has been running a successful ranching operation for over 100 years.”

State representative Luis Terrazas hits the nail on the head when he asks “why weren’t the local residents and elected officials invited to the announcement event?” He provides his own answer with, “because they want to stop any opposition and create the illusion that there is overwhelming public support.”

Luna county and the city of Deming have passed resolutions opposing the proposed monument.

Next month I will bring you more on this proposal and a discussion on the process and other associated national monument issues.

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner. blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation ▫

taken a brilliant visionary to see that these actions were the product of the conniving minds of the globalists – from Cecil Rhodes to Rockefeller, Carnegie, the British Royal Family to Kissinger, Maurice Strong, Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, Noah Harari, the pope, and too many others – all scheming to grab control of the world. It doesn’t help to realize that if they succeed, they will then go after each other next.

Here in the U.S., it isn’t laborers being brought in; it is illegal men of soldier age and physique. Brought in by the hundreds and thousands at a time.

What matters is if we allow them to succeed.

This is our country, a country built upon Western culture which was shaped by Judeo-Christian concepts, including individual rights, personal sovereignty, equal treatment, and the Rule of Law. The United States of America was the only country set up to fully protect those rights. Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs – moral absolutes. These values were what allowed those who came here for a fresh start to build their futures upon freedom and justice, government by the consent of the people, equal treatment, and personal autonomy – i.e., self-governed.

The founders understood

that we needed to have these values, attitudes, and beliefs to remain a cohesive, thriving, country. But it didn’t take long for those who would foment disorder in order to wrest control, to begin debasing those vital attributes that built this country. All the points I questioned above are just a small portion of the asymmetrical warfare being used against us. All lead to one end: the end of the United States and the end of Western Culture.

As we are trying to take our country back, many yet have no idea we are under attack. Most who understand the broader picture have no idea where to begin. People are only recently realizing that the ultimate goal is to rid the world of those of us believing in moral absolutes; that right and wrong exist. Many have been too badgered to accept moral relativism, where there is no good or bad, no right or wrong. And they don’t realize that this is the key to everything we are dealing with today. It is between having a civilized world or a world run by ten rulers, and the rest of us are useless eaters, cannon fodder, or slaves.

A book written in 1973 by Frenchman Jean Raspail addresses the ultimate battleground in this war against civilization. Camp of the Saints, reviled by many, hits full on the pivotal issue – how do we protect Western Culture after we open the door to those whose sole purpose in life is to destroy

it. In his foreword, Raspail sums up his book:

In the night, on our country’s Mediterranean coast, a hundred dilapidated ships run aground, loaded with a million emigrants. Poor folds stalked by misery, whole families with wives and children, swarms coming from the south of our world, drawn by the Promised Land. They yearn. They have the strength of numbers. They’re the subject of our self-reproach and of the mushy angelism of our consciences. They are the Other, that is to say the Multitude, the Multitude’s vanguard. And now that they’re here, are we going to take them into our home, into France, ‘land of asylum and welcome,’ at the risk of encouraging the launching other fleets of unfortunates who are getting ready, out there? It’s the West, in its entirety, that finds itself threatened. Threatened with submersion. But, what to do? Send them back home, but how? Pen them up in camps, behind barbed wire? Not very pretty, and then what? Use strength against weakness? Send our sailors and soldiers at them? Fire? Fire into the crowd? Who would follow orders like that? At all levels – universal conscience, governments, comity of civilizations, and above all each in himself –we ask ourselves these questions but too late….”

Saints is a book that could have been written about today. It describes the culture that almost perfectly depicts the West today: “Day by day, month by month, doubt by doubt, law and order became fascism; education constraint; work, alienation; revolution, mere sport; leisure, a privilege of class; marijuana, a harmless weed; family, a stifling hothouse; affluence, oppression; success, a social disease; sex, an innocent pastime; youth, a permanent tribunal; maturity, the new senility; discipline, an attack on personality.”

Julien Rose, writer at Global Research, asks a key question, “What holds mankind back from confronting the forces determined to destroy it?” 5 That is a key question for America today. And that is what The Camp of the Saints addresses. But in Saints, the enemy is not out to destroy the civilization of France, the people just need a safe place to land. They are being persecuted in their own country, India, and the European country, Belgium, that had been welcoming some in now said they were full up. Here in America, the reason behind the calamitous illegal immigration is to destroy our culture – which would take down the rest of Western Civilization.

Camp of the Saints is a hard book to read, but Raspail has spelled out the dangers of a culture that does not fit with the one our forefathers spent a great portion of their time trying to give us something that would work and last. We didn’t preserve it, so we are now faced with people who are out to rid the world of the best government the world has ever seen. Many tried to expose what was coming at us, but they were silenced by those power elite who

already had gained much control over the key governments in the world, while most citizens were blind to any of the deceit, corruption, and even murder that was furthering us down the road to Marxist technocracy.

Early U.S. history shows that immigrants were welcomed to help settle the open lands to the west. In the early 1900s, the “Great Wave” brought in 24 million immigrants, but WWI reduced immigration to almost nothing. After that, the federal government set up quotas favoring immigrants from Northwestern Europe – those with values like those that built the United States. Immigration policies didn’t change much until the 1940s when laborers from Mexico were allowed to come for temporary farm work under the Bracero Program. In the ‘60s, in order to draw skilled workers, visas were opened to Latin America and Asia – the first move away from nationalities who were raised under Judeo/ Christian values and beliefs. Also by the 1970s, over a million immigrants were coming in each year, tripling the previous years. In the late ‘70s Senator S.I. Hayakawa could read the writing on the wall and tried to put a sabot into the gears. On August 13, 1982, Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California introduced an amendment to immigration legislation (S. 2222) in support of English as the official language of the United States. Hayakawa’s amendment stated:

It is the sense of the Congress that –

1. the English language is the official language of the United States, and

2. no language other than the English language is recognized as the official language of the United States. He noted, “Language is a unifying instrument which binds people together. When people speak one language they become as one, they become a society.

“But there are more recent political lessons to be drawn on the subject of language when you think that right here in this U.S. Senate and the Congress, we have descendants of speakers of at least 250 to 350 languages. If you go back to the grandparents of just the Members of Congress, you have speakers of, I would say, at least 350 languages. But we meet here as speakers of one language. We may disagree when we argue, but at least we understand each other when we argue. Because we can argue with each other, we can also come to agreements, and we can create societies. That is how societies work.

“Take in contrast to this the situation in, for example, Belgium, where a small country is sharply divided because half of the population speaks French and the other half Flemish. Those who speak Flemish do not like the people who speak French and those who speak French do not want to speak Flemish.

… “Think of the recent history of India. Between 1957 and 1968, something like 1 million were killed in what were essentially language riots. They were riots about other things as well, about cultural difference, but essentially those cultural difference could not be resolved because there were a hundred languages dividing those people. So they could not understand each other and they could not come to the resolutions we arrive at daily in a Chamber like this or in the House of Representatives.

“So, Mr. President, the fact that we have a common language, one language, is one of the most important things we have tying us together. Now we live in a time of unprecedented immigration. Not only speakers of Spanish, but speakers of Cantonese, speakers of Thai, speakers of Vietnamese, speakers of a variety of European languages, speakers of Mandarin – they are coming from all over the world and joining us in our society.

“From the Philippines, we have speakers of Tagalog and other Filipino languages. Somehow or other, within a generation or two, we have to get them all together, talking to each other, electing each other to city councils, doing business with each other, buying and selling from each other, creating governments, creating societies. We can only have this unified society if we ultimately agree on a common language (emphasis mine)….

“If you think of the culture that we have, you think, as I said a little earlier, of the melding of cultures right here in Congress. You look at the lineup of any American professional baseball team or football team. You see all foreign names there, all English-speaking, all managing to get along, and you see what a miracle this is. The wonderful thing about the United States is that kind of cultural intermixing, that cultural melding, is possible.

“When you go to other parts of the world, you find to your amazement that China is full of Chinese; that Russia is full of Russians and practically nobody else. Italy is full of Italians and Korea is full of Koreans, and so on around the world. But we are full of people from all parts of the world having learned one language and ultimately having learned to get along with each other to create institutions of a multiracial, multicultural democratic society.”

Other people also were reading the writing on the wall, some even before Hayakawa: Senators Joseph McCarthy, Representatives B. Carroll Reese, and Edward Cox, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, even Ayn Rand.

As noted above, our immigration policy was developed to bring in those who would work, readily assimilate into our society – those who wanted to be Americans. They had no desire

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The Sand Camp Ranch is a quality desert ranch with an excellent grass cover and above average improvements. Located in southern Chaves County east of the productive Pecos River Valley. The ranch is comprised of 2,380 +/- deeded acres, 6,074 NM State Lease Acres, 23,653 Federal BLM Lease Acres and 480 acres Uncontrolled, 32,107 +/- total acres (50.17 Sections). Grazing Capacity set by a Section 3 BLM grazing permit at 405 Animal Units Yearlong. The ranch is watered by five primary wells and an extensive pipeline system. This ranch is ready to go, no deferred maintenance. Price: $3,672,000. This one of the better ranches in the area. It is nicely improved and well-watered. You won’t find anything comparable for the price. Call or email for a brochure and an appointment to come take a look.

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EIGHT MILE DRAW LAND 740 ± Acres of unimproved native grassland located four miles west of Roswell in the Six Mile Hill area with frontage along U.S. Highway 70/380. This parcel is fenced on three sides and adjoins 120 acres of additional land that may be purchased. Great investment. $600 per acre.

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■ FT. SUMNER, NM – 17 ac. +/- w/water rights currently planted in alfalfa & a beautiful home built in 2007 w/3 bdrms., 3 bathrooms, an oversize garage & a 24X50 metal shop.

P.O. Box 428, Roswell, NM 88202

Office: 575-622-5867 Cell: 575-420-1237

Website: www.ranchesnm.com

CONTRACT PENDING

MAXWELL, 408.90 +/- Deeded

143.05 Irrigable Acres/ Shares with TL pivot covering

80 acres, with bal-

dry land. Property has one water meter used for livestock,

support a home as well. There are two troughs locat-

SOLD

in the middle of the

for pivot is back toward the middle of the property as well.

has highway frontage on NM 505 and Highline Rd, a County Rd. Back up to Maxwell Wildlife area. Colfax County, NM.$599,000

INVASION?

cont. from

to change America to reflect the values from which they had fled. Had we continued that policy, I wouldn’t be writing this now; people wouldn’t be burning buildings down and murdering people and be considered heroes for doing it. Underneath all that, as noted by the Center for Immigration Studies, “…little consideration seems to have been given to what this level of immigration means for taxpayers, schools, hospitals, American workers, national security, to say nothing of the rule of law or our ability to assimilate so many newcomers”.

It took well over 100 years for the machinations of the global elite to bring us to this state of affairs. In that time, just about everything our Forefathers labored over to give us the best government in history was corrupted beyond recognition by truly evil people who set up the United Nations to be the control center until they achieved control of the world – and put us into technocratic slavery.

America is one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world; we have taken immigrants from every corner of the earth. As we welcomed them in, and as they came to take advantage of the freest country, both welcomers and the welcomed understood that what made America so great and free is our values, attitudes, and beliefs. To keep America great, we must keep those same values. People coming in can worship as they choose, associate with whomever they want, and live their lives, but they are expected to accept our values – that is what drew them here in the first place.

But those coming across our borders today are being indoctrinated into woke speak: The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is instructing Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents to ask immigrants they encounter for their “preferred pronouns” and to use gender-neutral language while on the job.

The agency goes on to demand that Customs and Border Patrol agents do not use

“‘he, him,’ ‘she her’ pronouns until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual.” CBP agents are also instructed to not use words like “Mr,” “Mrs,” “sir” or “ma’am.”

A far more nefarious activity is going on at our borders; illegal aliens, male, of military age, and strong are coming across by the hundreds and even thousands. The “silent invasion,” is being committed primarily by single, military age men between the ages of 17 and 45 who are illegally entering the U.S. They’re wearing camouflage and carrying backpacks, according to video captured by cameras placed throughout the county viewed by The Center Square. Many are armed and dangerous, committing murders, robberies and engaging in shootouts with law enforcement.”

“Since Biden took office in early 2021, the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) has ‘encountered’ almost 8 million border crossers, the majority young military age males. In August alone, that number was 232,972, an annualized rate of 3 million migrants a year.”

Now, if you add the tens of thousands of guns that are being supplied to the IRS, one could wonder if those guns might(?) end up in the hands of those able-bodied illegals coming in. We do know that it is our Deep State and others in the government who are aiding and abetting the overwhelming masses coming through our borders.

Not only are they going after our culture, but the idea is to help reduce the population at the same time.

The people are waking up, but when you go visit your representatives in government, their response is most often something like, “Uh, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of this. Let me look into it.” As if they aren’t in it either by choice, bribery, blackmail, or threats.

FROM THE BACK SIDE

(The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association or this publication.)

I

f you happen to be in the market for a home or ranch in the western United States and you are looking for a place with a little seclusion, don’t be taken in by your crafty real estate agent when they explain that the place you are looking at is surrounded by, or borders government land as a selling point.In my area there is quite a bit of land under the jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). What your real estate agent is leaving out, is that those two government entities do nothing to control the nuts coming out to use or abuse the land.

You end up buying this place because you figure the access to public land will be a good thing for horseback riding, running a few head of cows, hiking, fishing, etc. However, with the advent of the ATV every bit of government land is accessible to every city slicker and derelict in the world because the government does nothing to enforce their own rules of the land.

The only people that the government tries to control on the land are ranchers that have grazing permits. Those are the least harmful folks

Western Intrusion

out there.

Not too many years ago you used to see federal law enforcement on the federal lands. I cannot tell you how many years it has been since a USFS agent pulled into the ranch and to ask if there were any issues that they needed to address, or what your concerns were.

Funny, but that was the norm for decades and now it has all stopped. Don’t tell me they can’t fund a few cops with all the money this present government sends to fight wars in other countries that have nothing to do with us.

When is this nonsense going to come to an end? These townies are shooting up water tanks, wrecking windmills, tearing down buildings, destroying native grass with their doughnuts in the fields after a rain, ramming locked gates with trucks, shooting livestock, etc.

Since our ranch has been in the same place for years, we have seen a great deal of change and not for the better. Last fall I finally had to get the sheriff’s deputies here to remove two Phoenix guys camping on our private land less than a tenth of a mile from my home.

Where do people get the unmitigated gall to camp in someone’s yard? I still have their addresses, so I may have to travel to Phoenix, and pitch a tent in their yard

one of these days.

The other one that gets me are the alleged target shooters. On their way to get to our area they have to pass two legitimate gun ranges that are set up beautifully to accommodate shooters.

I looked into the fees and one was about $20 a day to use and the other was $12. Instead, they like to come to the USFS land and shoot up their old TV sets, glass bottles, refrigerators, and anything else that they can litter the land with and leave behind.

Until USFS Law Enforcement is visible nothing will get done about it. When will that be? Do they even exist anymore? A few years ago we secured a special use permit to hold a group trail ride headquartered at our place riding out on some USFS trails.

You should have seen the list of rules we got for that. Yet, if you are not riding a horse, but you ride an ATV then you are not required to follow any rules.

To top it all off our last two wildfires here were started by shooters. Obviously the USFS was getting bored and wanted some fires to fight rather than police the shooters to begin with.

Our government used to stand for something, but no longer. Have dumb & dumber inherited America? ▫

Court Smacks Down Moratorium on Coal Leasing, Reversing the Ban

A

U.S. appeals court smacked down a moratorium on coal leasing of federal lands. The decision could lead to more coal sales in the future from publicly owned reserves.“The ruling from a threejudge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a setback for environmentalists and Democratic officials who worked for years to curtail the federal coal leasing program” commented AP.

Senator John Barrasso has applauded the court’s decision to reverse the ban on coal leasing:

“This moratorium not only harmed coal producing communities in Wyoming and throughout the West, but put at risk America’s

most reliable and affordable source of electricity. Instead of looking for new excuses to keep American coal resources stranded, President Biden and Secretary Haaland must get to work and move leases forward.”

Coal production has been declining overall since the late 2000s, in part due to an increasing competition from renewables, yet Wyoming remains the most prolific coal-producing state in the nation.

Annually, Wyoming’s coal mines account for almost 40 percent of U.S. coal production. Wyoming’s large surface coal mines are also the most efficient in the nation, with an average recovery factor of 92 percent.

Still, the future remains

uncertain for the industry. In December, 19 workers at the Black Butte coal mine east of Rock Springs were laid off, prompting state officials to blame Joe Biden’s Administration for not facilitating the mine’s expansion.

Governor Gordon then stated, “It is disheartening and disappointing to have the Black Butte Mine lay off employees at any time, but this is particularly troubling as we enter the holiday season.”

▫

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Jim S. Williams

Jim S. Williams, Boling, Texas has been named the 2024 inductee of the prestigious Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery. His portrait will be unveiled at an induction banquet, Nov. 17 during the North American Livestock Exposition in Louisville, KY. Williams will be the 379th member added to this historic gallery of livestock standouts. The award is the highest honor bestowed on an animal agriculture leader who has made major contributions to the livestock industry in the U.S and abroad as judged by their peers.

Williams has had one home his

Jim S. Williams to be Inducted into the Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery

adult life and that is on the V8 Ranch, one of the world’s premier registered Brahman operations. He represents the sixth generation to continue a commitment to excellence in the seedstock segment and continues a legacy initiated by his great-great-grandfather, J.D. Hudgins, who is the founder of the renowned J.D. Hudgins, Inc Brahman Ranch.

Williams was a gifted athlete in high school and after a career-ending injury in college, he transferred to Texas A&M University. His interest in cattle became his passion, as his knowledge and understanding of animal genetics and breeding flourished. He graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science and he returned to the ranch and began to make his mark in the industry. Under his leadership, V8 Ranch has been a trailblazer for adopting advanced technologies such as the incorporation of per -

Lidocaine-Infused Castration Bands

BY ROBIN GALEY / APB

New castration bands containing slow-release local anesthetic provide pain relief for cattle during castration.

Large animal veterinarians in Alberta will soon be providing producers with anesthetic-infused castration bands made in Canada. While producers currently inject pain relief or give it topically, a new process, developed by Solvet and Alberta Veterinary Laboratories (AVL), impregnates existing latex elastration bands with lidocaine.

“Providing pain relief during procedures like castration is important to animal health and welfare. Solvet came up with this technology to push lidocaine into the same castration bands that have been on the market for years and years,” explains veterinarian Dr. Roy Lewis.

“We already had the lidocaine in another form, and the bands were already there, too. They’ve come up with the technology to combine the two, solely for the purposes of animal welfare. It’s quite ingenious really,” says Lewis.

The bands will address pain and discomfort through the slow release of lidocaine, which begins acting within two hours after the band is applied and lasts for up to 42 days, relieving the animal’s pain for the whole time the scrotum is falling off.

Calgary-based Solvet and AVL developed the new product, which has already been tested successfully on hundreds of animals. “They are the same little green bands producers are used to and exactly the same applicators, so there is no redundancy and no new equipment required,” says Lewis.

The small bands can be used on calves up to 250 pounds to support bloodless castration without injections, resulting in less steps and less handling costs for producers. Ongoing studies in the U.S. and Canada aim to demonstrate increased average daily gain (ADG) while reinforcing the welfare benefits of the lidocaine-infused elastration bands.

“Farmers and consumers don’t want our animals to feel pain at any time if they don’t have to,” says

Dr. Merle Olson, who co-founded Solvet with Dr. Barb Olson. “Really, this is the future of cattle management; pain control and animal welfare are top of the list.”

Since the anesthetic-infused band, called LidoBand, falls under the category of compounding rather than being a prescription drug, it will likely be available through veterinary clinics. It is expected to be available in the U.S. market by the end of 2023 and in Canada sometime in 2024.

“It goes without saying that this will help cattle do better during this procedure. How much better we don’t know for sure, but the bottom line is it’s a pain control mechanism that supports animal welfare, and that just makes a whole lot of sense,” Lewis says.

This article was first published in Volume 3 Issue 4 of ABP Magazine (December 2023). ▫

formance measurements in the 70’s, embryo transfer, and IVF, as well as use of DNA based genomics. V8 has also been a leader across breeds in the marketing of purebred genetics with many firsts to their credits in this area.

Visual appraisal is also paramount to Williams in making mating and herd selections and the show ring has been a major force in the growth and popularity of the V8 Ranch. Since 1976, V8 Ranch has exhibited 66 National or International Grand Champions, which tops Brahman history records.

V8’s reach extends far beyond the U.S and the ranch’s genetics can be found in more than 50 countries and on six continents. Along with his dad, Sloan, V8 Ranch satellite herds were established in Brazil and Zimbabwe.

In addition to the Brahman herd, V8 Ranch is home to a 1,500 head Brahman based commercial cattle operation along the Gulf Coast of Texas. In the early 2000’s, Williams founded and managed V8 Shorthorns, where the operation exhibited national and junior national champions, as well as three Shorthorn Show Heifers of the year. His daughters were heavily involved in the junior association on a national level, also.

Williams has continually given back to the industry and served in many leadership capacities. He is a two-term past president of the American Brahman Breeders Association, a three-term past president of the American Shorthorn Association and has held executive board positions on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S Meat Export Federation and was chairman of the Texas Beef Council.

For 48 years, he has been judging cattle across all breeds and has presided over more than 1,500 shows at all levels. He has judged 33 national breed shows, 44 state fairs, as well as the most prestigious junior nationals, and steer shows in the nation. His judging ability has also been sought after in shows in Brazil, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, and Thailand.

His expertise and knowledge as also made him a sought-after speaker and panel member across many forums in the U.S., as well as five foreign countries.

His contributions and love for cattle has earned him considerable recognition including the 2012 BIF Seedstock Producer of the Year, Builder of the Breed honor from the American Shorthorn Association, honorary member status for Texas A&M University Saddle & Sirloin Club, Texas Junior Livestock Association and the Texas Shorthorn Association Progressive Breeder Award. In addition, he has received the Premier Breeder Award, an honor jointly presented by the San Antonio Livestock Exposition and Canadian Western Agribition. He was inducted in the Showtimes Magazine Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2013 the Best of the Barns contest selected him as the Best Livestock Judge and in 2023 V8 Ranch was acknowledged as the Best Show Cattle Operation.

Williams and his wife, Luann, his high school sweetheart reside on the ranch in Boling, Texas, about an hour outside of Houston. He has also made time to lead his family and serve in various leadership capacities in his church, local school board and Farm Bureau. He has served on various committees and councils for Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He is also a strong believer in youth programs and can always be supporting 4-H, FFA and sports activities, as well as visiting with students of all ages in the beef industry. The Williams family has created an endowed scholarship at Texas A&M University for graduate students interested in researching and improving Bos indicus cattle.

An oil portrait of Williams has been commissioned by renowned artist, Richard Halstead, and will be framed and hung when the award is presented in November. Texas A&M University, American Brahman Breeders Association and the American Shorthorn Association collaborated to nominate Williams for this prestigious honor. ▫

Ag Student Scholarships to WIA Summit Now Available;

Corporate Sponsors Sought

The scholarship application period is now open for university students looking to attend the industry-leading Women in Agribusiness (WIA) Summit, which will take place this year in Denver, September 24-26. The deadline to submit an application for a 2024 scholarship is Friday, May 31.

To qualify, applicants must be full-time junior or senior level undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral candidate students attending an accredited college or university who have shown a strong interest in developing a career in the agribusiness sector. Along with other benefits, scholarships defray the cost of registration for the three-day Summit and provide a connection to their corporate scholarship sponsor.

Scholarship benefits include:

■ Registration for the threeday Summit

■ Three nights shared lodging at a hotel (if needed)

■ Meals provided at the event

■ 1-year WIA Membership; providing access to conference content and member directory

■ Student workshop event with industry executives

In keeping with the WIA mission to “to grow a professional community of women in agribusiness as they learn from one another, develop their career, and build beneficial relationships in the sector”, this scholarship program has welcomed more than 150 students since its inception in 2014. Students hail from colleges all over the country, including Colorado State University, University of Wyoming, Texas A&M University and Tennessee State University.

Olivia Redmond, a 2023 scholarship recipient who is currently a grain leadership trainee with Consolidated Grain and Barge (CGB), said “being a 2023 WIA scholar has greatly

benefitted my professional development and career journey in the fact that I was able to meet a company at the conference for which I am now employed. Besides that, being surrounded by extremely successful women in a stereotypically male-dominated field was extremely inspiring and I walked away with a newfound confidence within myself for the future... I also was able to make so many amazing connections with my fellow scholars… Truly, my attendance to the WIA Summit has changed my life for the better.”

Sponsoring A Student

Each year, nearly three dozen corporate sponsors step forward as WIA Student Scholarship sponsors to help bring this program to fruition. These companies have included the likes of ADM, CHS, John Deere Financial, ProAg, Wells Fargo, Wilbur-Ellis and more (see the 2023 list here: https://wia.highquestevents.com/ehome/wia23/ scholars/).

This unique opportunity provides an enriching and exceptional experience for full-time agricultural students and highlights the commitment of these sponsors to developing the industry’s future leaders through assisting in creating valuable industry connections and career opportunities, as well as access to up-to-the-minute industry knowledge.

Inquiries about student sponsorships should be sent to WIA Event Director Carrie Vita at cvita@womeninag.com.      ▫

Sustainable Development Goals: Local Chokeholds

BY LYNNE M TAYLOR

SDGs A Local’s Experience:

Imake it a point to speak up in my local government as much as I can. Currently, the town of Mooresville, North Carolina is conducting a series of town meetings to invite citizens to weigh in on the latest comprehensive planning efforts. I’ve reported Mooresville is in the thick of becoming a UN (United Nations) hub. I’ve shared how the town has been a pilot for the massive amounts of student data harvesting/tracking; inclusive housing (meaning to create housing for the workforce), and other items which fit right into the CCSS Machine. However, Mooresville is hardly alone in its efforts to become a cookie cutter hotbed of conformity.

When I attended the first citizen meeting, it was held at a citizen center. The meeting room was laid out in almost a maze-like pattern of stations.

Upon walking in the door, there was a place to make a name tag for yourself as well as fill out a short survey which included your address, email, income level and if you owned or rented a home. You were given a one page flier at this table which laid out the context: hands-on, interactive conversations where I could share my desires for making my town a place to live/ work/learn/play.

As soon as you left that table you were guided to the first of 10 stations. At the first station you were given 3 poker chips and a choice of 6 flower pots.

Each pot was described by the leader of the entire city project: a non-resident who was hired by the Town to head up the “Mooresville Tomorrow” project*. The department which hired Mack (not his real name) is the Planning and Community Development Dept. As Mack introduced us to the concept for our time together, he shared that the focus was to help the Town shape its goals and strategies for the future. He also shared that Mooresville HAD to do this. I asked why and was told that no matter what town or city Mack goes to, he helps guide plans to fit zoning and rezoning efforts.

Again, I asked why is this necessary. The answer I received is a big clue for you to look in your town/city or area (in the US and across the world): state laws (federal and regional, too) REQUIRE every local municipality to have zones. IF those zoning laws are not met, funding gets cut and citizens could suffer. So when Mack told me almost comically in response to my questions “It’s the law.” I knew it was trouble. Any hope of weighing in on what I wanted my tax dollars to support and not being pre-selected for me, went out the door.

(*Note: The Mooresville Tomorrow project appears to be an extension of the already approved and in the works “Mooresville One” Plan which is a comprehensive combination of turning a historic town into a modern 15 minute mess. Some of the same images and plots are showing up in both.)

Which leads me back to the 6 flower pots. NONE of the options were what I would even consider worth investing in.

Pot #1: access to the local lake (the description stated that as a group, town residents highly value the lake and its environmental/recreational benefits. Planning ahead means as more rack and stack apartments are built near the lake, public access is a must. I must point out that this lake is the chief water source for the entire area, especially inside the town limits. (This pot’s purpose totally glosses over the fact that the lake being built around has been suspected and investigated for a tremendously high rate of all types of cancer in the area, as well as, many citizens do not use the lake or care to access it because the have their own environment and recreational needs met at their choosing.)

Pot #2: fostering development of walkable multi-use centers. (described as a way to meet the changing needs of workers and households so that a balance between urban and traditional spaces can mesh. The example given was to re-create Charlotte NC’s City Center in

Mooresville. The future holds that new development will be built this way while older neighborhoods are redeveloped.)

Pot #3: focusing on regional and internal mobility connections (in other words, how can traffic become less about your car and how you travel using more public or becoming more pedestrian)

Pot #4: providing opportunities for developing new housing choices (first off, housing is a defined market including mobile homes, single family homes, apartments and condominiums. So this begs the question, what other type of housing is there? The description for this pot stated that after several attempts to have affordable housing for the workforce, this is a must to cut down on the 70 percent who commute to work. I can attest that of the new rack/stack apartments, rent starts out at well over $1,000 a month; well above what many limited income residents can afford. This counts those gainfully employed as well as those who are being forced out of their single family homes and into rental properties.) So, is this really about housing ‘choices’ or reducing your travel?

Pot #5: leveraging utility and transportation investments to support economic and housing development (described as the city government has been ‘fortunate to have more than $1.1 billion in public transportation funds.) Between local bonds (bonds are deferred taxation schemes), state and federal funds’. So the future means we must address new infrastructure.

Note: any city, town, state or federal entity which puts economics first, over people is fascist. Go back and read the pot’s point: ‘economic and housing’, not housing and economic. Also note that if you meet anyone who drives in this part of NC, the road planning which exists has been in need of addressing WELL before anything in the future!

Pot #6: expanding quality of life through green spaces (the description revealed that town residents have identified parks and trails as important. More greenways, civic spaces are important. Again, Charlotte is the example.)

Note: The problems with using Charlotte as an example are a) major population difference, b) major city vs town, c) Charlotte is among the Climate Mayors (Extra Note: over 500 US cities (Mooresville is also listed as a member) are represented and since the group’s beginning, regardless of local elections, the cities remain on the list, so any previous mayor to those in the future, if your town/city are on the list: watch out.) IF you live outside the US, the Global Covenant of Mayors, which represent close to 13, 000 cities (at least 185 of these are American), is also worth looking into.

The Other Stations:

Anti Fed Ed Warriors, you’re probably wondering when the education part of all this will show up, since that’s my blog’s purpose. Trust me,

we will get there and it will be something you may not expect, as far as the SDGs.

However, let me tell you a bit more about the stations.

For 2 of the remaining 9, we were given red and green dot stickers and coached into using them to show our preference for the types of neighborhoods we would prefer. There were duplexes (we currently have plenty), row houses (aka: tiny homes), mixed used neighborhoods (being overrun with these), rack and stack apartments (are seeing massive amounts of trees and land destroyed for these), and single family homes with postage stamp size yards (1/4 acre or smaller, no garage and no front yard).

There was also an option to choose a single family home with a ‘large yard’ (meaning a garage, front and back yard not to exceed 1/2 acre. (*Note: so, for all the town’s original city plots which are well over 1/2 acre; what is to become of them? What about the homes which occupy these large lots?)

In all the options we were given to choose from, anywhere from one to three stories for mixed use and homes. Apartments would be even taller. Existing building codes prohibit really tall buildings, yet we’re already seeing projects being considered of 6 or more stories!

Some of the other stations had you choose between where you’d spend your money locally, under this new footprint; have you pick out what type of greenspace is best; what changes you’d make to the town based on all the travels and places you’ve lived, as well as share your personal thoughts as to why all this change is or isn’t a good thing. The biggest elephant in the room, however, was Station 5. A roundtable with a picture of home in the middle, 6 destinations surrounding it and piles of purple (public transportation), red (bike), blue (walk) and yellow (car) yarns. The instructions told you to use the color yarn to denote which would be your choice for traveling FOR A PURPOSE. Note, not pleasure, just tasks.

If you ever needed an illustration of being hemmed in, this table certainly showed it.

Where the SDGs Come Out to “Play”:

After I got home, I knew I had to find out what company the town had hired to orchestrate this symphony of agenda. Turns out it’s the APA (American Planning Association). Mack is one of their certified AICPs (American Institute of Certified Planners). These AICPs are progressive in their tactics. They also go to towns and cities all around the country. APA’s tagline is “Creating Great Communities for All.” Their 2024 top priority is ‘zone reform’* to address the ‘housing crisis.’

Meanwhile the AICPs are actively seeking to align themselves to the cities, counties and regions using ‘sustainable development’. When you consider that the APA is in full support of (and creating) ‘green communities’, the writing’s on the wall.

(*Note: among the reforms being considered in zoning is the use of AI, artificial intelligence. On the Kuby Team blog you can read about the dangers this brings to every family. Where you live is controlled by a

computer, not your personal choice).

Here’s the ‘smoking gun’ about the American Planning Association: they are a key contributor to the UN Economic and Social Council’s High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development! (*Note: if you are reading this outside the US, you not only have seen meetings like I described, but you can now see where your zoning and governments are intersecting the SDGs under your nose).

When you access the ‘key contributor’ link, scroll down and you’ll see that the SDG #4 (education is the FIRST listed in regards to the APA’s support and devotion to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Be sure to note the others ones connected to education). APA also has articles you can read on their blog about zoning, 15 minute cities, 20 minute suburbs and more.

Bonus Resources for Your Research/Activism in Fighting the SDGs:

1) Here’s a link to the ICC, International Code Council (where it’s revealed that education is impacted not only by the buildings, but what’s taught inside those buildings when it concerns teaching future planners). While the ICC’s ‘international’ aspect doesn’t cover every single country outside the US, it also uses these same codes for every state of the US. ICC also holds the IZC (International Zoning Codes). This is only available in a purchased book form, however, I did find a link which describes the IZC as arranging compatible buildings and land uses; establishing provisions for use in the interest of social and economic welfare of the community. The ICC/IZC promote UNIFORMITY IN WHERE YOU LIVE and HOW YOU LIVE.

2) The UN’s SEZs (Special Economic Zones) from the World Investment Forum’s website (you’ll see lots of regionalism in adherence to the SDGs).

3) From the SDC (Sustainable Development Code): ‘Green Zones’ which are used by local governments to adhere to the SDGs.

4) “Upzoning” (the ability for local government to change existing codes for taller buildings/ more buildings than historically allowed) in order to adhere your town to the SDGs.

5) From World Green Building Council, their promotion of dense cities with ‘green buildings’ for health. Almost every SDG is involved in either your inside living or what happens immediately outside the building or further out in the community. If you visit their website, be sure to read how Harvard University joins them in believing it is buildings which help shape our health. ▫

NYSE Withdraws Biden-backed Rule ...

Would Stymie Development on Millions of Acres

SOURCE: CFACT

Facing growing public resistance and the near certainty of a resounding defeat in the courts, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Jan. 17 withdrew a proposed rule that would have created a new asset class — known as “Natural Asset Companies” (NACs) — designed not to make money for investors, but to serve as an instrument for the imposition of illegal and unconstitutional environmental policy on millions of acres of private and public lands across the United States.

The NYSE’s stunning retreat was announced without comment by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which was tasked with either approving or disapproving the creation of NACs.

Under the proposed rule, the NYSE was to add to its Listed Company Manual the listing of common equity securities of NACs. According to the proposed rule, this would be “a corporation whose primary purpose would be to actively manage, maintain, restore (as applicable), and grow the values of natural assets and their production of ecosystem services.”

The NYSE’s proposed rule characterized “the distinct purpose of a NAC” as “protect[ing] and grow[ing] the natural assets under its management.” The proposed rule specifically defined NACs as “[c]orporations that hold the rights to the ecological performance of a defined area and have the authority to manage the area for conservation, restoration, or sustainable management.”

An Idea Rooted in Cronyism

NACs, as a concept, owe their existence to Intrinsic Exchange Group Inc (IEG). According to a September 2021 press release by the Rockefeller Foundation, “IEG was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur and environmentalist Douglas Eger.

IEG received critical funding from IDB Lab, Inter-American Development Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation, Aberdare Ventures, and Intrinsic Entertainment Ideas.” The Rockefeller Foundation alone donated $750,000 to IEG in 2019 and $1 million to IEG in 2021, according to public comments submitted Jan. 9 to the SEC by 25 state attorneys general, led by Sean D. Reyes of Utah and Kris W. Kobach of Kansas.

The Rockefeller Foundation press release indicates that NACs are a joint project of the NYSE and IEG.

“The new asset class on the NYSE will create a virtuous cycle of investment with an innovation mechanism to finance sustainable development for communities, companies, and countries. … Together, IEG and NYSE will enable investors to access nature’s store of wealth and transform our industrial economy into one that is more equitable.” (emphasis added)

The Rockefeller Foundation goes on to quote the NYSE’s then-president, Stacey Cunningham, as follows:

“With the introduction of Natural Asset Companies, the NYSE will provide investors with an innovative mecha-

nism to financially support the sustainability initiatives they deem critical to our future. Our partnership with the Intrinsic Exchange Group is another example of the NYSE tapping into our community to drive meaningful progress on ESG [environmental, social, and governance] issues with a solutions-based approach.” (emphasis added)

In addition to the open acknowledgment of a cozy relationship between the NYSE and other entities supporting the creation of NACs, key terms or phrases like “community,” “communities,” “equitable,” “our future,” “virtuous,” “sustainable,” “sustainability,” “sustainable development,” and “transform” are left conspicuously undefined in both the Rockefeller Foundation press release and in the proposed rule. Furthermore, the release admits that “the value created by NACs is not fully captured by traditional economic metrics.” This is another way of saying that NACs will not and cannot make a profit. NACs will invest in “nature”, where the only value created is the purported protection of nature.

In other words, NACs would not be traditional investment vehicles into which everyday Americans could put their money with a reasonable expectation of receiving a good return. Instead, they would be state-sanctioned instruments of environmental policy as favored by powerful elites ensconced in wealthy foundations, the NYSE, corporate boardrooms, and federal regulatory agencies. Violating the Law

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the role NACs would play in serving as a funding mechanism for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) recent proposed rule, “Conservation and Landscape Health,” which authorizes BLM to grant “conservation leases” on public lands. BLM assures the public that such leases would be “for the purpose of ensuring ecosystem resilience through protecting, managing, or restoring natural environments, cultural or historic resources, and ecological communities, including species and their habitats.” The proposed BLM rule provides that ”once the BLM has issued a conservation lease, the BLM shall not authorize any other use of the leased lands that are inconsistent with the authorized conservation use.” (emphasis added)

In short, the BLM rule is an effort to circumvent federal laws governing how public lands are to be managed, not least the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLMPA). FLPMA mandates that BLM manage public lands “on the basis of multiple use and sustained yield.” This means that BLM must provide for a “combination of balanced and diverse uses,” of which the “principle or major uses” include “and are limited to, domestic livestock grazing, fish and wildlife development and utilization, mineral exploration and development, rightsof-way, outdoor recreation, and timber production.” Nothing in FLPMA authorizes the granting of “conservation leases,” and the BLM rule’s restrictions on productive economic uses of lands under such leases put it at

odds with congressional intent as clearly laid out in FLPMA.

By violating the clear language of FLPMA, the proposed BLM rule is illegal and destined to be overturned by the courts. Yet, its provision creating “conservation leases” is inextricably linked to the NYSE NACs rule submitted to the SEC. Such leases will not provide financial returns to the leaseholders. On the contrary, they are specifically designed to lock up lands by prohibiting any significant economic activity on them. So, which entities would sink money into these unprofitable leases?

The answer in NACs. Like the BLM’s conservation leases, the NYSE’s NACs are not designed to make money. As the 25 state attorneys general noted in their public comments submitted to the SEC:

“The BLM rule authorizes BLM to issue leases that limit public lands to no use or to extremely limited uses. The NYSE’s proposed rule, in turn, provides the mechanism by which companies can obtain the funding necessary to pay for those money-loosing leases. In this way, the proposed [NYSE] rule is part of an interlocking scheme designed to facilitate another agency’s violation of the law – namely, BLM’s issuance of illegal conservation leases. Facilitating another agency’s violations is a textbook example of ultra vires agency action ‘not in accordance with law.’”

Given the shaky legal ground on which both the NYSE NACs rule and the BLM conservation-lease rule stand, the powers that be at the NYSE decided to cut their losses and withdraw their proposal. The economic and social harm to everyday Americans by the scheme’s plan to lock up so much of the nation’s natural resources in perpetuity is incalculable. And, as noted in The Washington Times (Jan. 17) by Carla Sands, vice chair of the Center for Energy & Environment at the America First Policy Institute, the grandiose undertaking “would outsource the stewardship of precious American resources, including public lands, to companies like BlackRock and even foreign investors in places like Russia China.”

Impact on “30 X 30″

The demise of NACs also represents a stinging setback to the Biden administration’s plan to “protect” (meaning to remove from economic use) “at least” 30 percent of the nation’s land and water by 2030. One of the ways of reaching the “30 X 30 Plan’s” goal was to use NACs in combination with the BLM’s conservation leases to take as much land as possible out of productive use. The White House’s landgrabbers will now have to look elsewhere.

CFACT was honored to join the American Stewards of Liberty, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the state attorneys general, and many other grassroots groups in exposing and ultimately bringing down this patently illegal scheme by elites to deny ordinary Americans access to their land’s bountiful resources.

Once again, David took out Goliath.. ▫