PHOENIX (Feb. 1, 2018) — The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association today unveiled its 2018 Policy Priorities, which will guide the group’s lobbying efforts in Washington over the coming year. The document was released at the annual Cattle Industry Convention in Phoenix.
This year’s Priorities focus on five main categories: the 2018 Farm Bill, Trade and Market Access, Regulatory Reform, Antimicrobial Use, and Fake Meat.
Some of this year’s priorities are familiar to longtime industry watchers. Like last year, NCBA will work to ensure that the pending Farm Bill includes full funding for a foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank, protects conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and prevents market-disrupting policies like mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL).
Likewise, the group’s regulatory-reform efforts will again focus on finding a permanent solution to an electronic logging devices mandate, modernizing the Endangered Species Act, and replacing the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
New to the Priorities list this year is an emphasis on antimicrobial use - specifically the aim to secure clean Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA) reauthorization and continuing the Key Technologies Task Force action steps on antimicrobials. Another new emphasis in 2018 will be a focus on protecting the industry and consumers from fake meat and misleading labels on products that do not contain real beef.
“With tax reform, regulatory rollbacks, and new access to the Chinese market, we had some big victories in Washington last year, but this is no time to take a break, and 2018 promises a mix of new and familiar challenges,” said incoming NCBA President Kevin Kester, a fifth-generation California rancher. “We’re going to continue to ensure fair access to foreign markets, fight against unnecessary regulation, make sure the Farm Bill addresses our needs, and guarantee that consumers have the ability to purchase a safe, healthy, and accurately labeled protein source.” PHOENIX (Feb. 1, 2018) - National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Craig Uden today issued the following statement regarding the announcement that U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake is dropping his hold on the nomination of Gregg Doud to be the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative:
"This is great news for America's cattlemen and women, and for all agricultural producers. We're glad that Senator Flake has finally heard our call for him to drop his hold and allow Gregg Doud to start working to improve market access around the world for our producers. With talks continuing on NAFTA, the Korea-US trade agreement, and access to many other markets still up in the air, it's imperative that the U.S. Senate now move as quickly as possible to confirm Doud's nomination." CattleFax Predicts Large Supply and Strong Demand in 2018 PHOENIX, ARIZ. (February 1, 2018) – CattleFax celebrated its 50th anniversary during the popular CattleFax Outlook Session at the 2018 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show. CattleFax Senior Analyst Kevin Good highlighted the industry’s profitability during 2017 and said the trend looks to continue into 2018.
CattleFax analysts told the audience U.S beef cow inventory increased 2.8 million head in four years, and an additional 200,000-400,000 head are expected to be added to the herd over the next few years. Good said there are growing supplies of protein coming to market during the year ahead, including large supplies of competing proteins, which will weigh on all beef prices.
“We have a bigger supply of all proteins ahead in 2018. For the past year we were very fortunate to have solid export volume,” said Good. “We are forecasting trade to increase year-over-year in 2018, but still, the rate of production is out-pacing the rate of exports.”
Although beef production is expected to increase to 27.5 billion pounds during 2018, Good said current consumer demand is expected to remain good and potentially increase as retail prices moderate. He said CattleFax is predicting beef to remain a strong competitor against other proteins.
“Demand is robust on all fronts. Domestically, retail demand is increasing and beef is being featured more in the consumer markets,” said Good. “The retail and foodservice industries are doing very well and the solid economy in the United States is one of the main drivers as unemployment rates continue to decline and per capita income rises.”
Good said even though beef demand is high, leverage will continue to be a challenge for the feedlot and packing segments as shackle space becomes increasingly constrained by rising slaughter rates. With the growth in production, Good said he anticipates lower, but still profitable price levels for the cow-calf segment, while feeders and backgrounders will see their margins narrow.
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