PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by Randell Major NMCGA President
Randell Major President Magdalena Loren Patterson, President-Elect Corona Dustin Johnson NW Vice President Farmington Cliff Copeland NE Vice President Nara Visa Jeff Decker SE Vice President Lovington Roy Farr Vice President at Large Datil Shacey Sullivan Secretary/Treasurer Peralta Tom Sidwell Immediate Past President Quay Pat Boone Past President Elida
Dear Cattle Producers, and All,
B
y the time you get this letter, our first virtual joint stockman will be history. The Governor’s orders to shut down the state due to COVID-19 has been the norm for 2020. Ranchers are independent, but we are also social. We want to talk weather, cows, markets, and maybe a wild story or two, and person to person is how that is done. We will make the best of this situation, which we always do. We welcome 2021 and look forward to a better year. A year of plentiful rain and better prices for our livestock. In order to have in person meetings, we may plan for more regional meetings to substitute larger conventions until COVID-19 subsides. COVID-19 has brought our nation’s food chain to the limelight and the gaps in it. Pouring out milk on fields and bare grocery store shelves while ripe fat cattle are backed up in feedlots are the reality that needs solutions to make sure this does not continue to happen. The upcoming 2021 NM legislative session appears to be unpredictable and excruciating as we prepare for the battle to keep what we have. One fact known is that there is no money available. Some of the legislation we see coming down the pipeline are redistricting or gerrymandering, decarbonization policies, climate impacts and policy recommendations for achieving executive order climate targets. We have been following the branding alternative amendment closely. NMCGA will be discussing and voting on policy for the state meat inspection bill sponsored by Representative Rebecca Dow and Representative Gail Armstrong at the board meeting in December. NMCGA joined nine other agricultural organizations that represent thousands of food producers from across the state, signing a letter to members of the New Mexico Legislative Council Committee requesting that the upcoming legislative session be postponed until true public participation can be safely incorporated to avoid risk of exclusion and inequity. On the national level, the Farm System Reform Act sponsored by Senator Cory Booker and co-sponsored by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, is lurking to socialize our current agriculture businesses. This legislation attempts to eliminate all beef feedlots over 1000 head capacity by 2040. This legislation is supported by over 200 animal welfare, sustainable agriculture, environmental, and public health organizations that want to transform agriculture to a government style system. If you have not read this bill yet, you should. It is alarming how this socialistic style legislation is being presented in this country. If our nation’s beef and cattle industries and trade associations are ever going to unite, now is the time. The best thing government can do to help our lives is to stay out of it. As we come to the end of this year, I would like to take a moment to remember all who have passed. “The world changes from year to year, our lives from day to day, but the love and memory of you, shall never pass away.” –Author Unknown. Take care and God Bless. Sincerely, Randell Major
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DECEMBER 2020
