National Cattlemen's Beef Association Provides Year-End Update Of Its Legislative/Regulatory Initiatives


NCBA's top policy priority in 2021 was improving the business climate for producers across the board. Our policy team tackled this goal from several angles:

Taxes
• Led the charge to fight back against devastating proposed tax hikes on family-owned farms and ranches.
• Mounted grassroots campaign with more than 1,800 producers and succeeded in keeping crucial tax provisions like stepped-up basis and like-kind exchanges intact in the House version of Build Back Better.
• We continue to work to keep devastating tax code changes out of the Senate version of the bill.

Processing Capacity
• Secured hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to expand capacity at independent and regional beef processing plants. These funds are designated specifically for small facilities.
o NCBA Vice President Todd Wilkinson testified on Capitol Hill to ask lawmakers not to give one cent of these funds to the major packers.

Cattle Markets Transparency
• Worked with partners in the House to introduce and pass H.R. 5290, which would reauthorize Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) through Sept. 30, 2022.
• Worked with partners in the House to introduce and pass the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021, which would establish a cattle contract library within USDA-AMS.
• Both measures are widely supported across the industry, and essential for increasing transparency in the markets.

Negotiated Trade
• Negotiated trade volumes are up considerably compared to years past, and multiple market analysts and economists credit this uptick to the work of NCBA's Regional Triggers Subgroup and our state affiliates.
• Our work on the voluntary framework made a tangible impact on the level of robust price discovery across the industry.

Labelling
• Successfully petitioned USDA for a top-to-bottom review of the "Product of the USA" beef label.
• Engaged with USDA-FSIS to advocate for restrictions on the use of the term "beef" on lab-grown protein labels. We are advocating that "beef" only be used on products derived from livestock raised by farmers and ranchers.

Transportation
• Helped secure passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which included funding for roads and bridges, rural broadband, and wildfire mitigation.
• Succeeded in getting the back-end 150 air-mile exemption for livestock producers passed into law.
• Secured an extension of the hours-of-service exemption under the Department of Transportation's emergency declaration.
• Our cumulative efforts have helped ensure that grocery store shelves stay fully stocked with U.S. beef during the pandemic and subsequent supply chain disruptions.

Regulatory Overreach
• Strategically engaged in litigation and rulemaking processes to fight back against harmful, burdensome environmental regulations.
• Continued to move the ball forward in court to defend the nationwide delisting of the gray wolf.
• Launched a grassroots campaign to oppose the return of the extreme federal overreach of the 2015 WOTUS rule.

30x30
• Worked with the White House, USDA, EPA, and Department of Interior to defend private property rights and advocate for the inclusion of grazing lands in the total acres counted under 30x30.

Climate and Sustainability
• Set industry-wide, industry-led sustainability goals that reaffirm our commitment to science-based stewardship. Farmers and ranchers have been leading the way in voluntary conservation in this country for centuries. We are proud to continue that legacy.
• Engaged proactively with policymakers to change the narrative and share the facts behind cattle as a climate solution.

International Trade
• Reached record-breaking export sales for our product in markets around the globe.
• Called on USDA to hold Brazil accountable and halt the import of Brazilian fresh beef due to their troubling record of failing to report animal health incidents.

National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA)