Agricultural News
Meet California Producer Kevin Kester, NCBA's President-elect Who's Eager to Tackle the Big Issues
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 16:07:05 CDT
During the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Summer Conference in Denver a few weeks ago, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays had the chance to speak with and get to know a little bit NCBA's President-elect Kevin Kester, a cattle producer from Monterrey County California.
"I'm a fifth-generation rancher from the Central Coast of California," he said. "My family has been ranching in our area of the state since 1867 and we're a commercial cow/calf and stocker operation. We also have some wine grape vineyards."
Kester has been preparing for his new role making the rounds with NCBA's officer team traveling round the country speaking with industry and legislative leaders advocating for those policy issues important to the American cattle producer. He says going into his term, he will be focused primarily on reforming the US tax code, protecting certain conservation titles in the upcoming Farm Bill and promoting the establishment of a Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine bank. Hailing from the West Coast, Kester says he knows all too well, the importance of managing the public's perception as well.
"Coming from California, we've had to deal with public perception issues, all the way from animal welfare to environmental issues for years now," he said, pointing out the old adage that the customer is always right. "We have stiff competition from other proteins in the country and across the world and if we want to stay at the top and be successful, for our own future generations of ranchers and farmers in this country - we have to adapt and be flexible to what the consumer wants."
Listen to Hays getting acquainted with NCBA's President-elect Kevin Kester, discussing the areas he's most interested in tackling during his term at the organization's helm, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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