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Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns Archive
Contact:
Bethany Shively,
The Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns (CCC) is a weekly report from Washington, D.C., giving an up-to-date summary of top policy initiatives concerning the cattle industry; direct from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). Please feel free to reprint in full or in part. If you would like to include NCBA's logo, contact us at 303-694-0305. | |
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Increasing Ethanol Mandate Could Have Unintended Consequences
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday opposing a proposal from the ethanol industry to increase the ethanol blend percentage in gasoline from 10 to 15%.
"Changes made to the ethanol blend percentage will impact all industries that rely on corn, not just the ethanol industry," said Kristina Butts, NCBA manager, legislative affairs. "Before considering raising the blend percentage, the government should first take a serious look at how it would affect corn and cattle markets, and whether corn production would be able to keep pace with a higher mandate."
Corn ethanol production is significant to the cattle industry because of its impact on feed grain prices. In 2008, livestock producers experienced significantly higher feed costs as a direct result of competing demands for corn and by higher energy prices. Since January of 2008, cattle feeders have lost a record $5.2 billion in equity due to high feed costs and economic factors which have negatively affected beef demand. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), in 2008, feed costs for livestock, poultry and dairy reached a record high of $45.2 billion - an increase of more than $7 billion over 2007 costs. Yet farm gate cattle and calf receipts have essentially remained flat, at between $49 and $50.2 billion during the past five years.
"Cattle producers support an open and free market as the best driver of competition and innovation in all industries, including the renewable energy sector," said Butts. "Artificially diverting more of the corn crop to ethanol production, without considering the possible negative impacts on other industries is bad public policy."
Projections show that increasing the blend percentage from 10 to 15% would require an immediate 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol, and would require approximately 1.6 billion bushels of corn-which is nearly equivalent to the amount of corn used by the cattle industry in an entire year.
"Cattle producers support energy independence and the development of the renewable fuels industry," Butts continued. "What we don't support are government mandates that disrupt the market and favor one industry at the expense of others. All we're asking for is a level playing field."
NCBA's comments were submitted in response to the Federal Register notice of April 21, 2009, Volume 74, Number 75 Pages 18228-18230 (Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211).
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Clean Water Restoration Act Threatens Ranchers, Small Business Owners Jim Chilton, a fifth generation rancher from southeast Ariz., testified yesterday on behalf of National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) during a House Committee on Small Business hearing on the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA). Chilton, whose family has been in the cattle business for over 120 years, explained how the CWRA would threaten farmers and ranchers, in addition to small businesses, small communities, forestry, mining, and manufacturing on private and federally-managed lands.
"This is essentially a limitless national land and water use control effort that will regulate every activity in a wet area in the nation," said Chilton. "It's nothing more than a 'nice-sounding' name which masks an economically and culturally devastating power grab, flagrantly violating both the spirit and the words of the U.S. Constitution."
The proposed Act--which passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last month--would drastically expand the Clean Water Act (CWA), giving the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) control over all watersheds in the nation, and all "activities affecting these waters." Since all land in the nation is within a watershed, it means that the Corps and EPA would have land-use control over farmers' and ranchers' property and other businesses not currently under the jurisdiction of the CWA. This new Federal jurisdiction would include hundreds of millions of isolated, intrastate pools, stock water ponds, springs, small lakes, depressions filled with water on an intermittent basis, drainage and irrigation ditches, irrigated areas that would otherwise be dry, sloughs, and damp places located on farms and ranches that have no nexus with any navigable waters.
Under the Act, family ranchers and farmers may be required to obtain permits from the EPA or Corps before conducting common, everyday operations, like watering their cattle or farming their land. The federal government is already struggling to handle a backlog of 15,000 to 20,000 existing section 404 permit requests. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the average applicant for an individual Clean Water Act permit spends 788 days and $271,596 in complying with the current process, and the average applicant for a nationwide permit currently spends 313 days and $28,915 - not counting the substantial costs of mitigation or design changes (Rapanos, 447 U.S. at 719, plurality opinion).
Considering U.S. farmers and ranchers own and manage approximately 666.4 million acres of the 1.938 billion acres of the contiguous U.S. land mass, the massive new permitting requirements under this Act would be an unmanageable burden for the government, and could literally bring farming operations to a standstill.
Chilton shared from personal experience about a time his family ranch had to apply for a 404 permit to construct a road across a dry wash on their private property. The regulatory approval process took over a year and cost his family nearly $40,000.
"As a rancher, I wholeheartedly understand the critical importance of a clean water supply; it's necessary for the health of my animals and my land," said Chilton. "Federal agencies have ample authority under existing law to protect water quality, and it's essential that the partnership between the federal and state levels of government be maintained so states can continue to have the essential flexibility to do their own land and water use planning."
For more information, visit: http://www.beefusa.org/NEWSNCBAPLCUrgeSenatetoStopFederalLandGrab
ProtectPrivatePropertyRights38922.aspx |
PLC, NCBA Work to Promote Conservation Through Ranching
Public Lands Council (PLC) President Skye Krebs and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) President Gary Voogt sent a joint letter to the head of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Tuesday to clarify recent efforts between PLC and WWF to enter into a conservation coalition agreement. America's ranchers play an important role in conserving the unique heritage and natural resources of our nation's public lands.
After learning that WWF had offered a permit-buyout to ranchers in Montana, PLC delayed signing the agreement as it viewed WWF's offer as an effort to eliminate ranching in an area that has historically been used for that purpose. Eliminating grazing is not consistent with the coalition's intended goal of achieving conservation through ranching.
PLC and WWF are planning to meet with other groups and producers in Montana to discuss ways all stakeholders can move forward to meet their objectives. Based upon the outcome of these meetings, PLC will determine how to move forward with the pending agreement.
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NCBA Members Vote on Policies to Address Cattle Industry Challenges On Saturday, members of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) approved a number of policy resolutions and directives to further critical industry priorities. The resolutions were passed by vote during the membership meeting at the culmination of the annual Cattle Industry Summer Conference.
"In this unprecedented economic and political climate, it's more important than ever that we have a clear strategy in place as we move forward to address the challenges facing the cattle industry," said Gary Voogt, NCBA president. "I'm extremely pleased with our discussions this week and I'm confident that these new policies will set us on the right course for a more profitable industry."
Animal identification was one of the most popular topics of discussion at the conference. NCBA's members voted to work towards an efficient national animal identification system (NAIS) that meets the needs of beef producers, while minimizing additional costs and maintaining confidentiality of producer, animal and premises information. NCBA will also work to ensure the system operates at the speed of commerce, integrates private-sector databases, and is phased-in within and between species. NCBA policy continues to support a voluntary NAIS and strongly encourages all producers to acquire premises IDs.
Members also voted to amend current policy with regard to the H-2A Jobs Program. NCBA policy continues to call for meaningful immigration reform and supports passage of "The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act" (AgJobs) which would streamline the current H-2A program and make it more workable for the cattle industry. The amended policy recommends that provisions in the AgJobs bill ensure that all livestock workers are treated fairly and that the legislation retains provisions to address the unique and specialized occupations required for livestock production.
Members also approved a new policy to pursue further knowledge of an emerging cattle virus with similarities to Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) recently discovered in South America and southeast Asia. The policy encourages the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to adhere to and implement strict international biosecurity measures for pestiviruses, addressing shipment of animals and animal products.
In public lands news, as the number of big game animals increases in certain regions, state game management agencies have been unsuccessful in maintaining targeted population numbers. Because these big game can damage private pastures used for grazing cattle, maintaining a level population is important for cattle production. Big game animals tend to seek habitats on wildlife refuges and parks during hunting season, which prevents them from being hunted, and prevents game management agencies from managing their populations. For this reason, NCBA's members voted to request that the Department of the Interior authorize hunting of big game on these refuges and parks, similar to the programs currently in place for water fowl.
In order to increase efficiency in the purchase and sale of livestock, it's critical that certified local scale facilities are readily available. The Packer & Stockyard Administration mandates that livestock weights for purchase and sale must be from a scale certified twice per calendar year. Members resolved to work to streamline this process by urging the Packer & Stockyard Administration to allow all channels of trade on certified scales officially inspected within the previous 12 month period or in accordance with individual state statutes.
"There was lively discussion of all issues facing our industry, from government regulations to food safety," said Voogt. "Meetings like this provide a forum to share knowledge and reenergize our industry as we work together to address the challenges that lay ahead."
Nearly 800 cattlemen and women attended this year's conference, held July 14 - 18 in Denver, Colo.
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Don't miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen!
Don't miss NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen, July 28 - August 1, as we learn more about the Environmental Stewardship Awards. Plus, we'll talk to the experts from Dow AgroSciences about how proper care of the land helps cattlemen become more profitable producers.
The show debuts Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. and airs again Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. (all times are Eastern). Don't forget, you can watch NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen online anytime by visiting www.CattlemenToCattlemen.org
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NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION
1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300
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