Setting Direction for the Industry

The cattle industry’s annual Convention and Trade Show this year is in Nashville, Tenn., at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel Jan. 29 – Feb. 1.  This is where the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Cattlemen’s Beef Board determine their course of work for the year.

“At the Trade Show, I always see several things that are of interest to me.  There’s always something to trigger the mind,” says John Roberts.  He is a dairyman from Whiting, Vt.  “Ultimately, it’s a good social event.  You get to meet, greet and know people from all over the country,” he says of the convention.

“What prompts me to go to convention is policy development and learning about the issues that impact the industry,” says Bill Donald.  He’s a cattleman from Melville, Mont.  “That’s why I started going in the mid-’80s and am still going.”

Texas cattle feeder Mike Engler extends an open invitation. “A lot of these issues get decided in Washington and I feel like the everyday cattleman needs to come and try and understand the issues and give their opinions and we can all try and reach consensus,” he says.

While a Nashville trip offers some entertaining sidelines, the focus of the meeting is the kind of work that emerges from groups like the Cow/Calf Council. 

“The Cow/Calf Council gives everybody a chance to participate,” Donald says.  “Everybody can speak and everybody can vote, which is different than the committees where only committee members can vote.  I believe it really empowers the membership to have more of a voice.”

The convention is a snapshot of the work the volunteer leaders like Donald, Roberts and Engler do throughout the year. The direction for the policy work will be set in Nashville. That work will have been done by people in your state who represent you in this national cattlemen’s congress.

 Some of these issues may come before Congress quickly; others may simmer in the background until an event such as futures trading or a beef recall erupts in the news.  In that event, a plan of action will have been mapped out.  That work will have been done by people in your state who represent you in this national cattlemen’s congress.

As Council chairman, Donald ushers any resolution passed by the Council through the committee process to the board of directors.  Not every effort is successful, but the process is democratic, he points out.

“Last year we took one forward on supporting the Johnson Amendment,” he adds.  That would have banned packers from owning cattle.  It proved to be a contentious debate from the floor of the Cow/Calf Council to the halls of Congress, which debated it as part of the Farm Bill before ultimately rejecting that provision.

Supporting the ban passed by one vote at the Council level.  Donald took it to the Live Cattle Marketing Committee and the NCBA Board of Directors, but it was defeated at each point.

Still, Donald says he has “faith in the process.  The majority of people have some say.  All we can do is guide something through the process and people still have to be somewhat responsible and show up and vote.”

This year the Council will bring a resolution to amend the NCBA bylaws to allow for mail-out ballots on issues that don’t earn a certain amount of support at the board level.

“The basic philosophy behind it is to empower the membership that can’t get to convention,” he says. 

Remember the consumer

The convention is a snapshot of the work the volunteer leaders like Donald, Roberts and Engler do. Their work continues throughout the year.  In early January, Engler was part of a checkoff-funded E. coli Task Force that met to map out a D-Day type of strategy to combat the pathogen.  He and the cattlemen on the Joint Beef Safety Research Subcommittee are acutely aware that good beef is of little value if consumers don’t think it is safe to eat.

 “Food safety is a tremendous driver for our product, whether it’s BSE or E. coli O157:H7,” he says.  “We have to pay attention to what the consumer thinks about our product.  The consumer is asking for additional assurances.  It would be the work of our committee to provide the science to improve the safety of beef and then provide that assurance to the consumer.”

Managing the media

Roberts knows what the impact of a disease like foot-and-mouth or Johne’s Disease can mean to an industry.  Even though he immigrated to the United States from England many years ago, he still has friends and relatives who were caught in the foot-and-mouth epidemic over there. 

He is the vice chair of the Issues Management Subcommittee.  This group works beforehand to gather accurate information on industry issues and then disseminate it during “media outbreaks” related to industry issues.  As evidence, while England’s BSE and foot-and-mouth epidemic peaked, the issues management team worked at full throttle behind the scenes.  As a result, consumer confidence in U.S beef spiked to an all-time high.  Having correct information can “burst the bubble of hyperbole or missed assignment that could put a lot of fear in consumers,” says Roberts.

The outrageous acts of groups like PETA, which slam beef and milk, have to be watched.  “We as producers can almost laugh at that but the trouble today is consumers are so far removed from how their food ends up on their table,” he says. “They have no idea how the steak on their plate became a high quality item.  Everybody in the chain of events is out there doing the best possible job they can.  There’s no benefit in not doing the best job they can.”

Shortly after the new Congress is seated, the cattle industry will begin working on a slate of issues as directed by the members of NCBA.  The national organization traces its roots back to 1898.

The direction for the policy work will be set in Nashville.  Some of these issues may come before Congress quickly; others may simmer in the background until an event such as futures trading or a beef recall erupts in the news.  In that event, a plan of action will have been mapped out.  That work will have been done by the men and women of your state who represent you in this national cattlemen’s congress.