The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) wrapped up its summer business meeting last week, drawing roughly 700 members — about 50 more than usual and a new record for the event, according to NCBA CEO Colin Woodall.
Unlike CattleCon, the association’s flagship winter convention, the summer business meeting is stripped of headline speakers and the infamous trade show. It’s where the grassroots policy engine actually runs.
“We’re not distracted by the concerts and the speakers,” Woodall told Chip Flory on AgriTalk. “We’re really focused on just talking about the issues.”
That grassroots structure, Woodall says, is central to how the association operates in Washington. Producer members debate the issues and vote, and staff then execute whatever policy direction comes out of that process.
“It’s not Colin Woodall’s opinion. It’s not Ethan Lane’s opinion,” Woodall stresses. “It’s actually the decision of the members of this association, and that is a process that we work very hard to protect.”
Farm Bill Urgency
Topping the list of priorities is getting a new farm bill finalized before Congress runs out of runway. Woodall says the industry needs certainty on the policy framework going forward.
“We’re done with the extensions. This is just to the point of getting ridiculous,” he says. NCBA is hopeful Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman can move a bill, but the window is closing fast — lawmakers head home in August, then return to a packed fall calendar dominated by government funding and midterm campaigning.
New World Screwworm Response
Members also spent significant time on New World screwworm. Woodall says NCBA is largely pleased with USDA’s response so far, crediting coordination with the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers, Texas Cattle Feeders and the Texas Beef Council.
“I really expected once it crossed the border that it would have been further within Texas and maybe even hitting on a couple of other states than it currently is,” Woodall explains, pointing to sterile fly deployment and producer education as key factors in slowing spread.
Ticks and Animal Health Research
A perhaps unexpected focus was tick-borne disease. Members pushed for more federal research funding around the Asian longhorned tick and the theileriosis it can spread, as well as tick-control strategies.
“These ticks replicate asexually, so they don’t have to have males and females, and that’s what makes them extremely dangerous,” he says.
The Lone Star tick drew similar concern for its role in spreading alpha-gal syndrome, a red-meat allergy, which Woodall says is spreading quickly and will require cooperation between agricultural and human health research communities.
A Split on the Border
Woodall acknowledges the membership isn’t unified on reopening the Mexican border to cattle trade, with cow-calf producers largely favoring keeping it closed and feedlot operators in states like Arizona and New Mexico wanting access restored. NCBA’s policy supports a phased reopening starting at the westernmost ports and moving east — an approach Woodall says mirrors USDA’s original plan before the full closure was implemented.
“We want to make sure that all of the stakeholders involved have a chance to be able to discuss that with USDA, get comfortable with the plan, and also allow us to pressure test that plan,” he summarizes.
CRP As a Working Lands Program
Members also passed policy directing NCBA to pursue changes to the Conservation Reserve Program, pushing it toward a working lands model that better supports managed grazing and drought response.
“When you look at the need for managed grazing, when you look at the role that CRP can provide in drought situations as well, we want it to be more of a working lands program,” Woodall summarizes. “That is the direction that we were given by our members, and that’s what we’ll continue to work on now that we have a very clear policy that has been set.”
Looking to the Midterms
Woodall says members also directed staff to support congressional candidates favorable to the cattle industry, framing the midterm elections as a pivotal factor in whether priorities like Endangered Species Act reform and trade policy continue to advance under the Trump administration.
“This midterm election is going to be a significant decision point on how the next two years look like,” he explains. “We’ve got a lot of work that we still need the Trump administration to do. We need to make sure that the president and his team have a political environment where they continue to deliver on some things to us as the cattle industry.”
Hear more of Woodall’s thoughts about NCBA’s policies on AgriTalk, available at the link below:
