Agricultural News
Colin Woodall Reflects on a Successful Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show
Fri, 13 Aug 2021 12:20:30 CDT
Commitment, Confidence and Optimism - those were just some of the words NCBA CEO Colin Woodall used to reflect on this year's CattleCon21.
In the same week the IPCC released a brand-new climate change report, the NCBA announced their goal for the cattle industry: to become climate neutral by 2040. As Woodall put it, sustainability is here to stay.
"Sustainability is here, so we had to step and back and think, 'what does it mean to us,'" Woodall said. "We don't want more rules and regulations, we don't want the government to tell us what we have to do in terms of sustainability."
To prevent that from happening, Woodall said the NCBA is at the forefront of developing sustainable practices for cattle producers and working with the Biden administration to guide legislation in "the right way" for the cattle industry. In a big win for the cattle industry, the IPCC report showed the long-term impact methane has on climate change is significantly lower than previously thought.
"We can now show quite clearly that we are part of the solution - not part of the problem," Woodall said. "Our grazing lands can absorb that methane - grow good grass, our cattle can graze that grass and put a high-quality protein on the plate for consumers."
That is a win for producers, consumers and the government, Woodall said.
While the cattle industry celebrates the methane news, Woodall said he and the rest of the NCBA are not celebrating as much as they were a year ago under the Trump administration.
"It's much different from where we were a year ago when we were celebrating a lot of victories, such as the repeal and replace of WOTUS" Woodall said. "Now we're talking about repealing and replacing WOTUS again - this time under President Biden and his administration."
One thing Woodall said he wants people to know, is that even though some of these policy issues are back up for debate, the NCBA is at the table.
"The Biden administration has invited us to the table, and we want to be at the table," Woodall said. "That gives us a lot of optimism and confidence that we can guide discussions- and build (legislation) to what we need it to be."
By being in front of issues and policymaking, Woodall said ultimately it protects cattle producers' property and practices.
Today's story, from the 2021 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, is a service of Farm Data Services of Stillwater.
Click or tap the LISTEN BAR below to hear Ron's full conversation with Colin Woodall, where they also talk about funding for the Biden administration, critics of the NCBA and the drought conditions in the West.
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