Page 24 - WCA September Ketch Pen 2020

24
Business As (Somewhat) Usual
By Dan McCarty
Director, Industry & Affiliate Outreach National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
After considerable deliberation and extensive plan- ning for the safety of attendees, cattlemen and women from around the country gathered in Denver in late July for the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting. Face coverings and social distancing were required
for all meetings, but it did not deter participation and discussion about some of the pressing issues facing the cattle and beef industry.
A capacity crowd of producers worked for more than six hours to craft a policy that would address concerns about live cattle marketing issues and lead the industry to more robust price discovery. The NCBA Live Cattle Marketing Committee considered several policy proposals, each aimed at encouraging greater volumes of negotiated cash cattle trade. After intense debate, the committee and the NCBA Board of Directors unanimously passed a policy that sup- ports market driven efforts to improve cash fed cattle trade during the next 90 days with the potential for mandates in the future if robust regional cash num- bers are not reached by the industry.
The Live Cattle Marketing Committee followed months of work by a working group appointed by NCBA leadership to study issues associated with price discovery, market transparency, and the amount of negotiated cash cattle trade. The group, including state cattlemen’s association executives, will continue to meet and explore options and ideas to meet robust regional cash numbers in the next three months.
Another important development that occurred at the Summer Business Meeting was the official intro- duction and approval of the Beef Industry Long Range Plan for the years 2021-2025. Updated every five years, the Beef Industry Long Range Plan is a tool designed to help the industry establish a common set of objec- tives and priorities. It establishes strategic direction and provides insight on how the industry can serve
its stakeholders by growing beef demand. Objectives included in the 2021-2025 plan include:
1. Grow global demand for U.S. beef by promoting beef ’s health and nutritional benefits, satisfying flavor
and unparalleled safety.
2. Improve indus- try-wide profitabil- ity by expanding processing capacity and developing improved value-cap- ture models.
3. Intensify efforts
in researching, im-
proving, and com-
municating U.S. beef industry sustainability.
4. Make traceability a reality in the U.S. beef industry.
Core strategies included in the plan are:
1. Drive growth in beef exports.
2. Grow consumer trust in beef production.
3. Develop and implement better business models to improve price discovery and value distribution across all segments.
4. Promote and capitalize on the multiple advantages of beef.
5. Improve the business and political climate for beef.
6. Safeguard and cultivate investment in beef indus- try research, marketing, and innovation.
More information and the complete Beef Industry Long Range Plan can be viewed at BeefLongRange- Plan.com. I would encourage you to have a look and familiarize yourself with the plan. It gives great insight into where the industry is headed.
Although life is certainly not back to normal and precautions must still be taken, it was nice to see such a great turnout at the Summer Business Meeting. Certain activities and segments of the economy are still on pause or are slowly recovering, but the work of protecting our business and industry by NCBA and the Washington Cattlemen’s Association will not be im- pacted by COVID-19.
Dan McCarty
Ketch Pen www.washingtoncattlemen.org
September 2020