PRODUCER URGES CONGRESS TO MINIMIZE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN AGRICULTURE

WASHINGTON D.C. (July 27, 2000) - The upcoming debate on the next farm bill should ensure that market forces and private enterprise are the determining factors in sustainability within the agriculture business, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said yesterday.

“Federal farm programs that subsidize agriculture through direct payments, acreage controls, set asides or direct subsidization can distort supply and demand signals to producers,” Jim Pellett, vice-chairman of NCBA Agriculture Policy Committee, said Wednesday while testifying before the House Agriculture Committee. Pellett is a cattle producer from Atlantic, Iowa.

“These confusing signals can negatively impact the demand and price of all commodities,” Pellett added. “We believe that the role of government should be to ensure that private enterprise determines a producer’s sustainability and survival. We will examine closely, and if necessary oppose, programs that may adversely impact the beef industry.”

Congress is working toward drafting the next farm bill. The cattle industry will continue to remain actively involved in the debate because what happens within one commodity sector can have an effect on other segments of agriculture.

For example, a government-induced surge in grain prices can have an adverse impact on cattle feeders or even producers who feed cattle grain when forage or hay is not available. Cattle producers are sympathetic to other commodity industries, but believe government actions should not be the cause of swings in commodity prices, Pellett said.

NCBA opposes direct assistance to livestock producers, but favors efforts to assist livestock growers when natural disasters such as drought, hurricane or flood occur.

“This is why cattle producers supported language in the recently passed Crop Insurance bill to direct resources to programs for pasture, range and forage losses,” Pellett said. “A regular program would provide disaster relief to producers when they need it, not just when Congress decides to fund it.”

Unexpected factors such as drought and the Asian economic crisis forced cattle producers to liquidate livestock long before the end of their productive life during the mid to late 90s, but the cattle industry has recovered. And economists predict the current cyclical cattle industry upswing will continue through 2003.

“This is because our industry has allowed the market to work for us with minimum government interference,” Pellett said. “We prefer to rely on the supply and demand of the products we produce to make decisions that are in the best interest of our businesses.”

Besides urging minimum government interference, cattle producers are also urging Congress to consider revisions to some conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).

“Economic activity and conservation can go hand in hand,” Pellett said. “We support allowing managed grazing on land enrolled in continuous sign-up CRP and CREP. This will have tangible benefits on improvements of environmental quality in such areas as invasive plant species.”

Other areas important to cattle producers’ profitability include:

• International trade - Expanding trade will become increasingly important to cattle producers’ bottom lines.
• Competition - NCBA supports the role of government in ensuring a competitive market through strong oversight, including enforcement when illegal activities such as collusion, antitrust and price fixing occur.
• Country-of-origin labeling - Cattle producers support legislative and regulatory action that would rescind the use of USDA quality grade on imported beef carcasses and cattle imported for immediate slaughter. Producers also support mandatory country of origin labeling for imported beef.
• Dealer Trust - Producers supports the creation of a dealer trust to protect the financial stability of cattle producers when the buyers who purchase livestock file bankruptcy.
• Property rights - Producers supports legislation that requires federal agencies to prepare taking assessments before taking private property.
• Taxes - Producers supports repeal of the death tax.
• Environment - Cattle producers support the role the Agriculture Committee has taken regarding oversight of both the USDA and EPA concerning the agencies’ rulemaking on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs).

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Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the  trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.