National Cattlemen's Beef Association

Did the Administration's Plan to Lower Beef Prices Wreck the Bull Run in the Cattle Market?

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 20:54:30 GMT

2025 has been a historic year in the cattle market. The tightest cattle numbers in 70 years laid the ground work for cash and futures prices to push to record and all-time highs.

From All-Time High to Crash
The peak in the cattle futures market was hit on Oct. 16. However, by Nov. 6, live cattle saw a $30 correction from the highs and feeder cattle futures set back nearly $70. The cattle market chaos wasn’t tied to fundamentals but liquidation by speculative traders on fear of policy changes by the administration as President Donald Trump announced a plan to lower beef prices for consumers.

Fundamentals Have Not Changed
Don Close, senior animal protein analyst with Terrain, says the market fundamentals that started the bull run in the cattle market are still intact.

“Certainly with domestic supplies, they have not changed in any fashion when you’re looking at the tightest cattle numbers that we’ve had in 70 years,” he says.

With high retail beef prices, there is no evidence of consumer sticker shock or trading down to other lower-priced proteins. Close says the beef industry has not seen any erosion in demand.

So, what changed? Analysts say it was the shift in market psychology in reaction to President Trump’s announced plan to lower beef prices for consumers on Oct. 16.

While the President’s announcement lacked details, the goal seemed to be to mimic the success the administration had in bringing down egg prices. With the prospect of government intervention, the live and feeder cattle futures touched limit down the following day as speculative traders who had been long in the cattle futures market for many weeks took profits and liquidated.

Jeff Hoogendoorn, with Professional Ag Marketing, says the managed money fund traders did not want to bet against the government.

“If you’re a hedge fund manager, you look at this cattle thing and say ‘Yeah it’s gone up an awful lot. We’ve made a lot of money,’” he says. “‘Now the administration’s going to be fighting against me. I think I’ll go find something else to do’, and you move your money elsewhere.”

Trump Administration Quadruples Argentina Beef Imports
Just days later, President Trump made an announcement to quadruple the Tariff Rate Quota for Argentina beef imports . That triggered additional selling in cattle futures despite the insignificant impact it has on U.S. beef supplies.

Patrick Linnell, director of market research with CattleFax, explains: “That change from 20,000 metric tons to 80,000 metric tons would represent around 132 million lb. And really, that comes down to about three-tenths of a lb. per capita to net beef supplies.”

(Allendale )

The move drew immediate fire from the nation’s cattle groups, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

Colin Woodall, NCBA chief executive officer, explains that with the current trade imbalance with Argentina, the administration needed to push for more market access in Argentina instead of importing more of its beef.

“Over the past five years, Argentina has sent over $800 million worth of their beef into the U.S. market, and they’ve only accepted $7 million of our beef into their market,” Woodall explains.

Justin Tupper president of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, adds that increasing beef imports was a slap in the face to U.S. cattle producers, and they opposed the move because countries like Brazil and Argentina have lower food safety standards and other practices that put the U.S. at a disadvantage.

“I think we want to be able to play on the same level playing field,” he says. “And I don’t think that happens with Argentina and Brazil. And again, I really don’t think it’s going to lower prices.”

Tupper adds neither producers or consumers stood to gain from increasing beef imports.

For more about Tupper’s thoughts:
South Dakota Producer Speaks Out About Beef Imports and “Product of USA” Push

Cattle Groups Tell Trump to Stay out of the Cattle Business
As a result, cattle groups and outraged producers warned the president to stay out of their business.

Woodall says: “We have worked really hard through the free market to be able to achieve the prices that we’re seeing. We don’t want government intervention coming in and messing with that and taking away these great opportunities we’re seeing.”

Tupper agrees: “It’s an industry that wants to work on competition and merit based, and we can do that if we make sure we don’t get to many outside interests — the government being one.”

Government Policy Pushes Prices Higher
However, two government policies pushed live cattle from $210 to $250 from July through September.

1. Increased Tariffs on Brazil. The U.S. increased tariffs on Brazil an additional 50% in mid-August, which nearly halted imports of beef trim coming into the U.S. Linnell explains, prior to that time, Brazil was a top importer of trim used to blend in ground beef.

“As of July on a 12-month basis, we’d imported just shy of 1.1 billion lb. from Brazil,” he says.

2. Closing the Mexican Border. The biggest policy change that tightened cattle numbers came from the U.S. closing the border to feeder cattle imports . Linnell says prior to closure, the U.S. imported more than 1.2 million feeder cattle annually. So, dropping the ban would have an immediate supply shock.

“We won’t see all 1.2 million head coming across at once but approaching that 25,000 head a week isn’t out of the question,” he adds.

(CattleFax )

While USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has confirmed there’s no date for resuming trade, speculative traders are headline driven. Every time USDA hosts a news conference on New World screwworm, it tanks the market — especially feeder cattle futures.

The market has also been sensitive to rumors of the border reopening, says Scott Varilek, of Kooima Kooima Varilek.

“There’s this large supply in Mexico. That would be the one thing that would probably affect this market the most,” Varilek says. “So, we’re penciling that in.”

Trump Calls for DOJ Investigation
The latest attempt to curb beef inflation came Nov. 7, as the president announced on his Truth Social site the Department of Justice was launching an investigation of the nation’s meat packers .

The president’s announcement says he vows to “ensure these corporations aren’t criminally profiting at the expense of the American people.”

Packer concentration has long been a hot button issue for cattle producers and is at the root of R-CALF’s six-year lawsuit, explains Bill Bullard, chief executive officer.

“We have alleged that the meat packers had unlawfully colluded in order to artificially depress cattle prices, while at the same time raising or inflating the price of beef to the consumers,” he says.

Currently 85% of the U.S. beef packing industry is owned by four entities, and Bullard says this monopoly violates antitrust law.

“Both the producers on the beginning of the supply chain and consumers at the end of the supply chain were exploited as a result of this monopolistic marketing structure,” he says.

Read more about Bullard’s thoughts regarding the DOJ investigation: Is the Beef Market Broken? One Cattleman Says Yes

But according to Derrell Peel, livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, past DOJ price fixing probes and research have disputed that.

“While there’s a very small level of negative price impact due to the concentration of market power, if you will, it’s far outweighed by the by the benefits in terms of cost efficiencies that the large firms bring to the industry,” he summarizes.

Read more about Peel’s comments regarding the industry chaos today: Beef Industry Chaos: Tight Supplies, Strong Consumer Demand and Political Interference

Cattle Producers Say Trump’s Beef Plan Topped the Market
Some of the other aspects of the President’s plan to rebuild the cattle herd were met with favor, such as opening more public land to grazing. However, in the end, the president’s beef plan has wreaked havoc in the cattle market and outraged producers, according to Varilek.

“They’re mad,” he summarizes. “That’s all it took was just kind of the government shoving in there and wrecking [the] market. I think the biggest thing was that there were some claims that the tariffs were the reason that we got this high, and that is not at all the case.”

Linnell agrees the negative headlines have hurt the market, adding: “There is no doubt that these policy decisions are making a big impact on the marketplace. They also just increase a lot of uncertainty and volatility in the industry.”

Cattle Market Chaos Further Slows Herd Rebuilding
The loss in value of females just over the last three weeks has also hurt producer confidence, and according to Close, that could further slow heifer retention and herd rebuilding efforts .

“We’re seeing one more round where we’re going to kick that can down the road instead of actually retaining the females needed,” he explains.

Market analysts, including Peel, say the reality is lowering beef prices is like turning the Titanic — and the president’s plan is unlikely to affect much change.

“It took several years of of drought and other impacts to get us here,” Peel explains. “It’s going to take several years for us to grow our way out of this situation.”

Close says once the market refocuses on fundamentals, cattle could retest the highs.

“As crazy as it sounds today, I’m not yet convinced we’ve seen the high of the cash market, and I would readily argue that we get into next spring, next summer to see a cash market back in that $240 to $245 plus level. I think is entirely possible,” he predicts.

How Kansas Cattle Feeder Joe Morgan Shaped a Remarkable Story of Success Built on Strong Relationships

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 21:12:17 GMT

Growing up in agriculture, Joe Morgan developed an interest in cattle feeding when visiting an uncle who fed cattle in Texas. He even started feeding some cattle when he was still in high school. After graduating from lowa State University in 1973 with a degree in Animal Science, Morgan began farming, then the opportunity to manage a feedyard east of Omaha came in 1983. In 1985 he moved to Garden City, Kan., to manage Poky Feeders, growing Poky from its original capacity of 17,000 head to the current 105,000. Poky also partners on leased feedyards in Kansas and Nebraska and has extensive ranch holdings.

“I fed cattle as a farmer in Iowa, and my family had been in in the cattle business for a long time,” Morgan says. “I was always fascinated with the cattle market and the cattle industry, so when the opportunity came up for me to manage a yard, I took that avenue.”

Morgan says the concentration of the industry both on the packing side and feedyard sector has been the biggest changes he’s seen in his years in the business.

“Our customers have grown their businesses too,” he adds. “When we started, we had a lot of customers that had cattle, and today, those our customers handle a lot more cattle also.”

Poky Feeders averages about 95% customer cattle and 5% company-owned cattle.

“We’ve been really blessed,” Morgan says. “We have a large customer base that has grown through the years. We’ve got a great customer base with some that are third generation family customers.”

One of the largest challenges is labor, which Morgan points out everybody faces.

“I think more on the other side of the coin is we have strived really hard to help our customers be profitable and stay in the business, and that’s what’s allowed us to have the immense growth that we’ve had,” he says.

Making yard improvements and capital investments also help Poky Feeders be competitive.

“We’ve added on new facilities several times, including a brand-new mill in recent years,” Morgan says. “It’s a state-of-the art mill with lots of technology and computer systems. We’re always trying to look at a better way to feed the cattle, at a more profitable deal for our customers, and less cost to us.”

Joe is a long-time member of the Kansas Livestock Association and NCBA, serving on several committees over the years.

Morgan says it’s important to be involved in cattle organizations.

“These organizations have relationships with members of Congress, and keep the industry abreast of all the laws and regulations with EPA and help us in production agriculture,” he says. “A unified voice is way better than individuals trying to accomplish all that on our own.”

Being in the custom feeding business, Morgan is a big believer in customer service.

“If you help your customer make money, he’ll be your customer for a long time,” is advice he offers others. “That’s one of the things I have preached in my organization with my management people for years. At every meeting we have, we discuss how we’re going to help these guys make money, and if they make money, then we’re going to be successful.”

Morgan encourages young producers to find mentors and peers they can relate to and respect.

“Mentors can help them with their career and their own personal lives and make it a lot more enjoyable life,” Morgan says.

Watching the growth of Poky has been rewarding for Morgan.

“When I came in 1985 we had capacity for 17,000 and today we’re up 105,000,” Morgan says. “We’ve also diversified into other businesses.”

Morgan was instrumental in starting US Premium Beef and has served on the USPB board since 2007, currently serving as Vice Chairman.

In the late 1990s, Poky diversified into the pork business, with a sow unit on site and production in lowa and Minnesota. Poky has also diversified into long-term health care and memory facilities across the Midwest and other business interests.

While Morgan currently serves as CEO of Poky, and his son, Grant, manages the company.

“It’s definitely rewarding to have family be able to be involved for another generation,” Morgan adds.

Buckle Up: Here's Why Cattle Prices Are Setting Up for Another Wild Ride in 2025

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:19:50 GMT

The cattle markets hit historic highs again to start 2025, and as USDA’s latest Cattle Inventory report showed U.S. beef cattle inventory fell to the lowest level in 64 years , tight supplies and strong demand could push cattle prices to even higher highs in 2025.

USDA’s annual Cattle Inventory Report released Friday shows the U.S. total cattle inventory shrunk another 1% over the past year, with the number of beef cows also down 1%.

Those numbers, along with questions around just how much higher these markets can go, were major topics surrounding the 2025 CattleCon in San Antonio, Texas, (the annual cattle industry convention) this past week.

Signs of a Slowdown?
Economists and market analysts knew the cattle herd was still shrinking, even before the report was released last week. But economists say there are some signs starting to signal that is slowing down.

“We certainly got smaller in 2024. That was actually kind of obvious about a year ago when you looked at heifer numbers,” said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock specialist. “If you look at the heifer numbers in this report, we don’t have a lot. And so we’re going to be challenged going forward to stop this liquidation. I think we might stabilize numbers this year, but I think growth is pretty much a long shot at this point.”

“I think we’re getting close to the bottom, as Darrell referenced,” said Don Close, senior animal protein analyst for Terrain, during the U.S. Farm Report live taping at NCBA’s annual convention. “I think the challenge is retaining enough heifers out of the supply that we have to provide the fuel for the build back.”

Calf Crop Was a Big Surprise
Casey Mabry, with Blue Reef Agri-Marketing, said there actually was a surprise in the latest cattle inventory report, and that wasn’t with heifer numbers.

“The biggest surprise to me was really looking at the total calf crop report, because we’re looking at the total cow inventory numbers. I think that probably caught some people off guard, having the calf crop a little bit bigger than what most people’s expectations were,” said Mabry.

Incentives Drive Outcome
With cash cattle hitting records to start 2025 a question on almost everyone’s mind is, can it continue? Mabry said it really depends on if demand can remain steady, since the supply side will remain tight.

“Incentives drive outcome and obviously with grain prices as cheap as they’ve been, and cattle prices as high as they’ve been, we’ve held on to some cattle. So it’s kept the front end of the market really, really tight and it’s kept packers chasing after cattle. So that ran the market $10 or $15 higher, in my opinion, than what we should have on the front end,” said Mabry. “So, it’s going to be really interesting to watch as we go through the back end of this thing. We’ve probably got to work through some stuff right here on the front end. But if the analysts continue to say we’re going to be tighter and demand stays pretty good, we’ll probably see prices exceed where we were before.”

“We’re Still Bullish”
Peel reminds producers there’s a great deal of risk in these markets. He said the markets don’t like uncertainty. With trade concerns and tariff threats, combined with a strong U.S. dollar, the combination is throwing uncertainty into the market.

“We’re very bullish and still bullish in general going forward for average prices,” said Peel. “But we also know that we’re subject to a lot of shocks right now. We’ve seen a couple already. We’re certainly vulnerable. There’s a lot of air below us since this market is so high. So producers really need to still do that risk management. Producers need to think about those marketing windows. If you got caught in a shock in one of those, it could really be devastating to you.”

Close has similar advice. He said with the development of insurance products, plus futures and options contracting, there are several ways for producers to manage risk today.

“At the price level we’re at, and just any measured retracement in the market, it could take you out of the game. At these price levels, it is absolutely imperative to have some kind of price risk management program in place,” said Close.

“I think you just need to run with what I call a keen sense of paranoia,” said Mabry. “I mean, be bullish, be excited about the market, but don’t get overly euphoric. We’ve got to remember back a short three or four years ago, we were all in the doldrums and very scared. And there’s a lot of people that were telling their kids to get into a different business. And now all of a sudden, we’re all jumping on the bandwagon of cattle and getting excited about this. So, we want to make sure that you guys are running your businesses like businesses and not gambling on cattle.”

Your Next Read:

Are More Record Cattle Prices Ahead in 2025?

Ag Groups File Lawsuit to Challenge EPA's "Vague" New WOTUS Definition

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 22:27:35 GMT

A group of 17 organizations are challenging the new Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) definition through a lawsuit against the EPA, filed Thursday.

“The EPA’s new rule doubles down on the significant nexus test, which is this unworkable test for jurisdiction of when the federal government regulates farms and ranches,” says Travis Cushman, Farm Bureau’s deputy general counsel. “We filed our lawsuit to stop it.”

The lawsuit comes as the EPA published its final definition of WOTUS on Dec. 30, which gives federal protection to large waterways, such as interstate rivers and streams, and adjacent wetlands.

Ag Policy Whiplash

In a press release on the lawsuit, Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall says the rule is “vague” and puts farmers and ranchers in a position where they will have to hire lawyers and consultants to establish the boundaries of farming, which “isn’t what clean water regulations were intended to do.”

Ethan Lane, NCBA’s vice president of government affairs, echoed Farm Bureau, saying the “unjust” ruling hits too close to home.

“I’m from the state of Arizona. The ‘significant nexus’ test that determines a dry stream bed from some kind of runoff area is describing my entire home state, depending on the definition you use,” he says. “We need clarity.”

Why Rule on WOTUS Now?

The new definition and lawsuit come as the Supreme Court is evaluating a decision on another WOTUS case that could significantly impact WOTUS rulemaking, which is set to be ruled on later this year.

NCBA Releases Plan For Voluntary Price Discovery Reform

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 05:28:54 GMT

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association on Friday released its proposal to improve price discovery without mandating participation by producers or packers.

Produced by a working group of seven NCBA members along with staff, the report calls for a regional approach and a “75% plan,” which is designed to provide negotiated trade and packer participation benchmarks for the industry to strive toward.

In a letter to members , NCBA president Marty Smith acknowledged the “availability of current and accurate market information has a substantial impact on our ability to make informed marketing decisions as cattle producers. It is no secret that in recent years adequate price information has been in decline in the fed cattle marketplace. This is largely due to the decrease in negotiated trade across the cattle feeding regions.”

NCBA appointed a Live Cattle Marketing Working Group of NCBA members which reported its findings to the Live Cattle Marketing Committee at the 2020 NCBA Summer Business Meeting. Policy adopted at that meeting directed NCBA to appoint a subgroup to “construct a voluntary framework, which includes triggers based on regional levels of negotiated trade, to increase frequent, transparent, and measured negotiated trade to regionally sufficient levels to achieve robust price discovery determined by NCBA funded and directed research in all major cattle feeding regions, and established a deadline of October 1, 2020 to complete this work.”

The proposal released last week – called “ A Voluntary Framework to Achieve Price Discovery in the Fed Cattle Market ” – includes plans to increase negotiated trade and incentivize each of the major packers’ participation in such negotiated trade.

“In essence, the Subgroup will evaluate the weekly negotiated trade information for each of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s cattle feeding reporting regions on a quarterly basis in arrears,” Smith wrote. “Eventually, the Subgroup will include in its evaluation an analysis of packer participation data, but this information is not yet published under Livestock Mandatory Reporting.”

The report also identifies several qualifications each region will need to achieve to avoid tripping price triggers:

Achieve no less than 75% of the weekly negotiated trade volume that current academic literature indicates is necessary for “robust” price discovery in that specific region,
Achieve this negotiated trade threshold no less than 75% of the reporting weeks in a quarter,
Achieve no less than 75% of the weekly packer participation requirements, to be determined in short order, and assigned to each specific region,
Achieve this packer participation threshold no less than 75% of the reporting weeks in a quarter.

NCBA is pursuing this voluntary approach in an effort to avoid government intervention through a legislative or regulatory remedy. Smith, however, notes that if the voluntary approach fails to achieve the price discovery sought by the industry, NCBA would be open to considering legislative solutions.

Specifically, Smith notes that if any of the previously listed triggers are tripped “in any two out of four rolling quarters,” NCBA’s subgroup will recommend the organization “pursue a legislative or regulatory solution to compel robust price discovery.”

“While certainly not a silver-bullet solution, I truly believe that this approach provides the industry a goal to strive towards and, perhaps more importantly, a path forward if progress is not demonstrated toward that goal,” Smith said.

Commentary On The Regional Triggers Report , Featuring Jerry Bohn, Brad Kooima, And Kevin Buse

NCBA: Current '50/14' Plan Not the Best Fit for Entire Industry

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 05:28:49 GMT

Earlier this week Senators Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), reintroduced bi-partisan legislation that would require 50% of a meat packer’s weekly volume to be purchased on the open or spot market, often referred to as the “50/14” bill, because of the 14-day delivery window for the cattle.

In the announcement of the legislation, Grassley says that it is meant to “foster efficient markets while increasing competition and transparency among meat packers who purchase livestock directly from independent producers.”

“The lack of transparency in cattle pricing isn’t a new problem. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the need for additional price transparency measures to ensure producers are getting a fair price for the hard work of raising cattle,” he continued.

While the reintroduction of the bill was applauded by some cattlemen, not all in the industry agree. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) released a statement calling the legislation “not the solution the industry needs,” and instead calls for a voluntary approach or a plan more similar to Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Ron Wyden’s (D-Ore.) “ Cattle Market Transparency Act .”

Ethan Lane, vice president of governmental affairs at the NCBA joined Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk and Greg Henderson, editorial director of Drovers, to discuss the plan on the show. To start, the plan doesn’t fit with NCBA policy, Lane says.

“We understand that in parts of the country like Iowa, where they trade 50% of their cattle on cash, that’s a solution. That makes sense. But the majority of the industry—certainly in the ag econ community—has all really evolved in this conversation, past the idea of a blanket cash mandate, to regional negotiated trade levels,” he says. “Because they are so different in Texas and Kansas versus Iowa, or Nebraska. And that’s where we’re all really focused right now is on trying to increase those regional trade levels to a point where we have that price discovery that we need, and we just don’t think that a blanket 50% gets that done.”

Building on the idea that different parts of the country, for example the Corn Belt where there’s large feedyards, versus the western cow-calf heavy states, could have a difference in opinion in how to move forward, Henderson asked Lane if the NCBA has seen a divide in its membership on the issue?

“It’s not quite as simple as just geography or even segments. We have Western cow-calf states, like Idaho that are really opposed to any government intervention. Both Montana Senators are on this 50/14 bill, but the Montana Stockgrowers Association is opposed to it,” Lane says. “And this is the point we’ve tried to continue to make. This is not settled business in the cattle industry. Everybody wants to get negotiated trade levels up, but how we get it done without upsetting everybody’s applecart is really still where we are in this conversation.”

Lane says the NCBA’s working group has representation from cattlemen on both sides of the issue and it meets a few times a week to try to make progress and find common ground.

Another objection, Henderson says, is that the “50/14” rule would impact the marketing agreements that feedyards have, whether it be independent feeders or corporate feeders, with the packers.

“[The packers] have their own challenges, because they might be running a plant that’s doing all NHTC beef for a certain market or they’re doing runs for China, and they say it’s harder for them to source that in the cash market. So they need those dependable supplies,” Lane says. “And then our producer segment is coming to us and saying, we asked for these kinds of deals, we want those premiums, we like that structure. But the other side of that is we have to have that price discovery for any of those alternative arrangements to work properly. And there’s, there’s also no disagreement about the fact that we don’t have enough price discovery to really inform the price on those formulas and grids.

“But we’ve got to do it in a way that’s authentic, so that we’re not giving more leverage to the packer. I mean, we’re trying to restore leverage to the producer segment, we don’t want to accidentally put a mandate in place that gives them more ability to issue a no competition bid to a producer,” Lane continues.

But would an unintended consequence be a possible cap on weekly bids?

“We’ve had folks in the packing segment tell us that if they’re given a mandate, they’ll buy cattle cheaper. They will grind us down on price. If we have a lot of competition for cattle, maybe we can get by that. But it is something we’ve got to make sure we pay attention to,” Lane says. “At the end of the day, this has been sold as a silver bullet, but it’s one piece of a much bigger puzzle. Leverage has a lot of different components. We’ve got to make sure all of them are moving back in the producer direction.”

Flory asks if a catalog or library of the formula-driven contracts that are popular in the Southern market, making those details more available for producers, might resolve some of the issue?

“We support that portion of the Fisher bill. There are producers that tell us it’d be really helpful to know what those look like what kind of terms are other people able to negotiate,” Lane says. “But that is just a little bit of a blueprint to what’s possible, you still have to go cut your own deal. If that contract library can arm producers with an understanding of what’s out there, and that’s helpful, and we’re certainly hearing that from some of our producers that that would be a tool they’d be able to really use, we’re supportive of that.”

Related:

Grassley Reintroduces ’50-14' Bill, Cattlemen React

Fischer, Wyden Introduce Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2021

Cattle Contract Library Act Passes Ag Committee

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 05:28:40 GMT

By a unanimous vote on Thursday, the U.S. House Agriculture Committee passed the bipartisan Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021 (H.R. 5609). The bill must be approved by the full House and would also need Senate consideration before it could be signed into law.

Introduced earlier this week by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), the Cattle Contract Library Act would establish a library of contracts for the Agricultural Marketing Service to report terms of alternative marketing agreements between packers and producers. Supporters of the bill say it would greatly increase transparency in cattle markets.

Rep. Johnson said the bill is the result of nearly a year of work with producers and industry leaders following the July 2020 Boxed Beef & Fed Cattle Price Spread Investigation Report. The investigation recommended the creation of a cattle contract library.

According to a statement from Rep. Johnson, this is the first cattle market transparency bill to pass out of the Agriculture Committee since the July 2020 report was released. The Cattle Contact Library Act is supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, National Farmers Union, Livestock Marketing Association, South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, South Dakota Farm Bureau, and the South Dakota Farmers Union.

“Producers want action – they want more transparency in the cattle market – this bill is a step in the right direction,” Rep. Johnson said. “The Cattle Contract Library Act ushers in greater transparency and competition to an industry that desperately needs it. I’m grateful to the farmers & ranchers for their critical input to come to a consensus and I’m glad the committee answered this request. I’m going to fight like hell to get this bill passed out of the House.”

During an interview with Chip Flory on AgriTalk Thursday, Tanner Beymer, NCBA director of government affairs and government regulatory policy, said the cattle contract library has “broad support from all sectors” and has been a longstanding priority for NCBA.

“Members of Congress recognize this broad support,” Beymer said.

The cattle contract library will give cattlemen valuable information about “what attributes are being incentivized by packers and at what (price) levels,” he said. Such information will help producers gain more marketing leverage.

“Information is power, and this bill allows cattle producers to compare their agreements with other (packer/producer) agreements and allows them the opportunity to negotiate more favorable terms,” Beymer said.

The only cattle producer group that has not endorsed the Cattle Market Transparency Act is R-CALF USA, the group said in a statement. R-CALF directors reviewed the bill and determined it “does not address the competition-disrupting leverage” the beef packers now have.

“The problem with our broken market is not that we don’t know the details of the contracts that confer market leverage to the packers, the problem is there are too many contracts and because of that, our price discovery market is being destroyed,” said Iowa cattle feeder and R-CALF USA Director Eric Nelson. “Putting a contract library ahead of taking action to preserve our price discovery market sends a signal that more contracts are good and more producers should try to access them. This is not what is needed.”

Prior to Thursday’s vote, the North American Meat Institute urged the House Ag Committee to pause.

“Members of the Meat Institute are still analyzing the bill and how it might affect their operations,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO. Due to the limited time allowed to consider the legislation, “we ask the House to pause and include packers in the conversation, since the packers would bear the burden of complying with this new government mandate.”

The bill must be approved by the full House and would also need Senate consideration before it could be signed into law.

“There is already robust price discovery provided by beef packers on a daily basis,” Potts said. “We urge members of Congress to slow down and to first do no harm.”

Related stories:

Beef Contract Library Bill Introduced In House

U.S., Global Meat Demand Beefs Up as Cattle Industry Works to Keep Beef at Center of the Plate

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 05:28:40 GMT

More than 6,000 cattle producers, industry partners and stakeholders are gathering in Nashville this week for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) annual convention, all in an effort to make sure beef stays at the center of the plate.

Demand has been the centerpiece for the industry, with significant growth in the past two years despite pandemic and inflation pressures.

“Demand has just been really outstanding through all of this and all of the challenges,” says Derrell Peel, extension livestock specialist with Oklahoma State University. “We’re still trying to get food service open, kind of get back. And I don’t know what normal is going to be, because one of the questions we have are what sort of permanent or semi-permanent changes have we made in food consumption. But the bottom line is food demand -and beef demand in particular - has just been phenomenal.”

Consumer and wholesale beef demand are currently at 30-year highs, and economists say there are currently limited signs of that demand slowing down.

“The stars are kind of aligning here to have some optimism. And so the bottom line is we’re expecting by the fourth quarter to see stronger year over year prices and continuing that certainly through 2022,” adds Peel.

Some of that driven by the cattle industry producing better products.

“Look at the amount of cattle grading Prime and Choice today compared to just 15 years ago, it’s gone from basically 55% to 83%,” says Kevin Good of CattleFax. “And in the last decade, a huge increase in Prime going from 3% to 10%. Also the top two-thirds Choice going from 16% to 25%.”

It’s not just translating into good demand here at home.

“Record exports this year, led by huge year over year increases in China and continue to see very strong sales into both Japan and South Korea,” Good adds.

“Surpassing Japan as that leading market hitting that safeguard into the Japanese market, while not a great thing, really speaks to volume and it speaks to the fact that those markets love what we produce,” says Ethan Lane, government affairs for National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). “They like the taste of U.S. beef. They like the consistency and the quality. They want more of it.”

Keeping and growing that export business is a big goal over the next couple of years.

“Keeping the momentum going into those markets, making sure that we are producing enough in this country and expanding that process and capacity to meet that growing demand overseas, I think ties back into some of those leverage conversations as well, making sure that we’re not just looking at reducing herd size. Gosh, that’s where we are in the cycle. We’ve got too much business to do,” adds Lane.

With drought and pandemic pressure is still an issue meeting that growing demand may be the biggest challenge in 2021 and beyond.

“We have too many markets overseas that we need to keep supplied with that beef, because they don’t want the Aussie beef and they don’t want some of those other countries,” says Lane. “If they get a choice, they pick ours.”

Cowboys React To Revised Cattle Price Discovery Bill

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 05:28:31 GMT

On Monday four Senators announced they have revised their proposal that would reform the nation’s cattle markets. The updated legislation, called the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022, drew comments from a wide range of industry stakeholders with varying degrees of support and opposition.

Among the three prominent cattle producer groups, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association supports the bill, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) opposes, and R-CALF USA is undecided.

The revised bill would establish 5-7 regions in the U.S. where minimum levels of fed cattle purchases must be made through “approved pricing mechanisms.” Violations of the regulation would result in a maximum penalty of $90,000 for packers that have slaughtered 5% or more of the nation’s harvest over the past five years. The bill would also create a publicly available library of marketing contracts.

The four Senators introducing the bill are: Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The senators first introduced the bill in November.

Statements from stakeholders:

U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) president Brooke Miller says there is “momentum for industry change.” In a statement, Miller said USCA supports “mandatory cash trade minimums,” a concept he says is supported by a majority of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

National Farmers Union (NFU) president Rob Larew says “rampant consolidation in the cattle industry has made pricing in the cattle market increasingly opaque. Fair and competitive markets rely on price discovery and transparency. For farmers and ranchers to bargain effectively with packers, they need access to reliable, accurate pricing information. This bill would shed light on the market and bring about greater fairness.”

Support for the bill from Senator Fischer’s home state came from both the Nebraska Farm Bureau and the Nebraska Famer Union.

“NEFB remains committed to working with Senator Fischer to provide additional cattle market transparency and price discovery,” said Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue.

“Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU) strongly supports” the revised bill, says NeFU president John Hansen. “This negotiated bipartisan bill represents an historic opportunity to substantially improve and reform beef markets. It will increase beef market competition, transparency, the volume of mandatory price reporting data, cash market sales, penalties for packer violations, and establishes a cattle contract library.” He said the current system “is systematically squeezing multi-generational” ranchers out of business.

From the Nebraska Cattlemen, president Brenda Masek said, “Until price discovery participation is better valued at all points in the supply chain, live cattle market price negotiation will continue to decrease until there is little to no negotiated trade left and outside markets will have to be relied upon for price determination.”

Opposing the legislation, NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane issued the following:

“Despite overwhelming feedback in opposition to a cash mandate, this latest version of the Fischer/Grassley bill expands the concept to ensure that every single producer in the country selling fat cattle would be subject to a business-altering government edict. This is an indication of just how far the sponsors of this bill have strayed from the wishes of the majority of cattle producers around the country. It is time for the sponsors to finally consider the perspectives of all those who this bill would impact, not just those in their own backyards – and we are ready to have that conversation whenever they are.”

In a statement from R-CALF USA, the group noted it was “strongly opposed to the initial version” of the bill and called for its rejection by the Senate Ag Committee.

Regarding the new revision, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said his group “remains deeply disappointed that Congress has not yet taken any meaningful action to address the serious crisis in the cattle industry that is now entering its eighth year.”

He said R-CALF fears many more ranchers and cattle feeders will leave the business without market reforms, and that the group has asked Congress to take “decisive action” in the past.

“While we reserve our opinion regarding the modified compromise bill pending our ongoing analysis, we remain concerned that at its heart, the proposal authorizes the USDA to take up to two more years before it even establishes minimum cash volume requirements; to set those minimum requirements at the same inappropriate level that they’ve been at during the past two years; and then to keep them at that inappropriate level following the required review after the first two years of implementation and periodic reviews after each five-year increment,” Bullard said.

“We were hoping Congress would provide a measured response to this serious crisis and we will continue wading through this complicated proposal to determine if it provides any meaningful reform worthy of America’s independent cattle producers’ support,” he concluded.

Related stories:

Cornett: The Mandaters Move On

Senators Revise Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act

Potts: Supply, Demand Balance Without Government Intervention

Cornett: A ‘Hard Cull’ On The Facts

Packers and Allies Urge Congress to Do Nothing in Face of Broken Markets

Speer: Policy Makers Should Just Leave Well Enough Alone

Speer: Is Fair What We Really Want?

Uhl: The quest to improve cattle markets

Speer: Business First, Market Second

Cornett: ‘What Does the End of Beef Mean for Our Sense of Self?’

Cornett: Cattle Markets Could See ‘Techtonic Shifts’

Cornett: Insights From ‘A Yankee’ Feeder

Cornett: Charity Markets

Cornett: Stewardship and Sustainability Will Influence Price Discovery

House Passes Bill to Address Abuse of EAJA

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:10:49 GMT

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council applaud the House passage of H.R. 3279 Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), requires oversight and transparency of funds awarded under EAJA. Philip Ellis, NCBA president and Wyoming rancher, said the bill is critical to leveling the playing field between private citizens, for which the law was intended, and the vast resources of groups who repeatedly abuse the system.

“The lack of oversight and accountability has led to rampant abuse by well-funded radical environmental groups who use EAJA to advance their agendas,” said Ellis. “The simple fact that millions of dollars in taxpayer funds have been awarded, with virtually no accounting of who received the payments is unacceptable.”

EAJA was originally passed in 1980 to allow plaintiffs to recover legal fees when they prevail against the federal government in court. However, it has repeatedly been exploited by environmental activist groups which target federal-lands agencies, and ultimately the ranching families who use the lands, at the expense of the taxpayer. From 2001 to 2011, environmental activist groups, some worth in excess of $50 million, have been awarded an estimated $37 million. During the same time period, more than 3,300 cases have been filed by just 12 groups, many of which were frivolous or filed on technicalities.

“When these groups file suit, farmers and ranchers are often forced to pay crippling legal fees to fight these unfounded attacks and defend their land, business and way of life,” said Brenda Richards, PLC president and Idaho rancher. “To add insult to injury, it’s their own hard-earned money that pays the legal fees of groups seeking to take them off the land.”

The Act, as originally passed, required the Department of Justice to report to Congress where and how EAJA funds were being spent. However, in 1995, through passage of the paperwork reduction act, the reporting requirement for EAJA payments was removed. For nearly 20 years the government has not been tracking how much money has been paid out through EAJA.

H.R. 3279 restores much-needed accountability by requiring an accounting of all attorney fees spent under the Act; an annual report to Congress detailing the use of EAJA funds; and a Government Accountability Office audit of EAJA funding over the past 15 years.

Source: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Fox News Anchor Bret Baier Details Current Political Climate for Cattle Industry Convention Attendees

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:08:03 GMT

There is a “huge chasm” between the Obama Administration and congressional Republicans on taxes and other issues, Bret Baier, anchor for FOX News, told thousands of cattlemen in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 6. Baier made his remarks as keynote speaker at the Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show General Session II.

A record number of attendees are attending the convention – more than 8,214 as of noon Friday. The convention is the annual gathering of America’s cattlemen and women represented by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the American National CattleWomen, CattleFax, and all checkoff-paying producers through the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board.

Baier told the audience the administration will encounter pushback from Congress on a number of regulatory issues, including Dietary Guidelines and the Waters of the United States regulation from EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, “a huge deal,” according to Baier. He said it didn’t appear there would be major tax reform this next year for taxpayers.

Also making remarks at the session were incoming NCBA President Philip Ellis of Wyoming and NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts.

Baier provided an overview of current politics and current presidential candidates. In addition, he gave the audience a behind-the-scenes look at the production of FOX News, as well as background on his own broadcast career. The newsman gives 100 percent of the proceeds from his talks around the United States to groups working on pediatric diseases in honor of his son Paul, who has had numerous open heart surgeries during his young life. Proceeds from his book, Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love, are also given to the charity.

Policy and Joint Checkoff Committees continue their meetings Friday afternoon. The convention will conclude with meetings of the NCBA and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on Saturday, Feb. 7.

Source: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Cattle Producers Discuss Policy Priorities at Industry Summer Conference

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:06:28 GMT

Members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association addressed current policy priorities at the 2014 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver this week, passing new resolutions and directives for the 2014 Policy Agenda.

“Our policy committees are tasked with a broad spectrum of issues, with everything from environmental regulation to nutrition policy to trade barriers on the agenda,” said Bob McCan, NCBA president and Victoria, Texas, cattle producer. “Cattle producers gather from across the country to discuss the biggest issues facing the cattle industry right now and make specific decisions on how to move forward on these priorities.”

Along with revisions to current policies, NCBA members analyzed the overall state of the industry in one-on-one discussions with top government representatives, trade officials and other industry leaders.

“Right now, priority issues include the EPA’s proposed waters of the United States rule, tax reform and ongoing international trade issues,” said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall. “We are engaged in a long list of policy priorities all year long. After the meetings in Denver, NCBA’s D.C. staff is headed back to Washington, ready to hit the ground running with the list of recommendations and policy updates.”

In the Property Rights and Environmental Management committee members passed a resolution to lead the development of a beef sustainability program, inclusive of the beef value chain and stakeholders, that addresses the continued advancement in areas such as economic viability, production efficiencies, animal care and handling, environmental conservation, human resources and community support.

The Cattle Marketing and International Trade Policy passed a resolution for NCBA to support changes to Mandatory Price Reporting. Accurate and detailed market information is imperative for sound decision making, and the directive calls for support of changes to ensure the data reflects the market place.

And NCBA’s Cattle Health and Well-Being committee passed policy regarding foreign animal diseases, which could cause a widespread quarantine and possible massive depopulation of the U.S. cattle herd, thus compromising national security and jeopardizing the U.S. beef supply. As such, a resolution was passed to oppose the importation of live cattle, beef, and/or beef products into the U.S. from foreign countries with histories of significant chronic animal diseases and lack of strict animal disease control and eradication measures.

Further, NCBA urges USDA to include U.S. cattle industry stakeholders in any negotiations with foreign countries relating to efforts that may affect the health of the U.S. cattle industry and provide the U.S. cattle industry opportunities to comment on new procedures for developing risk analyses for any foreign country with significant chronic animal disease issues wishing to export live cattle, beef, and/or beef products into the U.S.

USDA protocols should be substantiated by sound, scientific evidence and that animal health related regulations not be used as non-tariff trade barriers.

All of these policies from the committees were passed by the full NCBA board of directors.

The official NCBA Policy Book is a detailed compilation of policy priorities on cattle industry issues. The full NCBA 2014 Policy Agenda can be found online at: www.beefusa.org .

Source: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

CattleFax Predicts A Cool Start to Planting

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 21:26:37 GMT

Cattlemen at the 2015 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association tradeshow heard an overall favorable weather forecast for cattle, crop and forage production.

Persistent warm waters from California and Baja to Hawaii, favor normal weather conditions in the Plains and Midwest this summer, said Art Douglas, Cattle-Fax. Dry conditions might develop across the Southern Plains with this pattern, but the Midwest should avoid a hot dry summer.

However, with oceanic and atmospheric indices shifting away from El Nino, it is not surprising the January to March forecast shows a shift away from a classic wet-mild winter for much of the country.

“This has been the most up and down, hard to predict El Nino that I can ever remember,” Douglas said.

Since last March, following cool temperatures during winter 2013/14, temperatures rapidly warmed. They peaked in June and all of a sudden went wide and downhill. “El Nino means the Christ child. It’s supposed to peak in December, not in June,“ he said.

Even the NOAA model is a bit confused—it doesn’t know if will be warm or if its going to be cold, he added.

The difference in this El Nino is that the warm waters that would develop in Southeast Asia are further west. “It looks like we are going to have 2 years of El Nino,” Douglas said. “This El Nino is simply slow.

Spring Outlook

“Percent normal precip [over the last 90 days] has only been good in the far Southern Plains-Texas area, as well as the plains of eastern Montana. We still have lingering drought throughout the western U.S. and portions of the Central Plains. We look at the Palmer Drought Monitor Index, California is still in extreme drought conditions. We are going to keep working on that for the next couple weeks, in fact the next three or four months. Same way in the Southern Plains—even though we’re starting to see some moisture there, drought is still considerably strong at the moment,” he said.

“As we get into spring, we are expecting a trough in the southern Pacific to get stronger. There is going to be a squeeze play here between a trough on the coast and a trough in the eastern U.S. We’ll get good moisture coming into the southwest but its going to be harder for moisture to get into the Southern Plains.

Temperatures in March should be warmer than normal in the West, cool all the way through the central part of the country, and cooler weather comes in again for April and starts contracting again in May. “You’ll probably have some delayed planting due to the cool temperatures,” he said.

The Midwest is likely to remain drier than normal into spring with temperatures averaging below normal through February and possibly March. Drought conditions are likely to remain unchanged from northern California into the northern plains and upper Midwest.