Who is going to add value to your cattle, the consumer or the order buyer? Last week R-CALF USA released their five-year plan for the cattle industry. It looks like they condensed all the issues they have been working on over the past 20 years into their five-year plan.
Meanwhile the NCBA with your checkoff dollars has produced their five-year plan, which comes after several past five-year plans. I believe NCBA was going to release the plan at their annual convention, which is not going to happen.
Anyway, two five-year plans—one wants to advance the industry through more government regulation and involvement, and the other wants to do it through the free market capitalistic system and keep government out of the cattle business. One wants to add value to beef because it is born, raised and harvested in the USA. The other plan wants to add value through producing a safe, quality product. In many respects these organizations want the same thing but have different views on how to get there.
Yes, we want to increase the value of our cattle, but R-CALF sees the path forward using mandatory county-of-origin labeling (mCOOL), fighting packer concentration, reducing or eliminating imported beef, passing 50/14 legislation to force packers to buy cattle on the cash market and eliminating unpriced formula trades, as well as not having an RFID traceability program, and encouraging more direct marketing of beef. Then holding producer referendums on the beef checkoff.
Let’s just say that if they got all these issues accomplished we would live in a very different cattle world, and, we may not really like it. However, they don’t tell you how they are going to do these things. They could support the livestock-related legislation that has been proposed, 50/14, Prime Act and state-inspected meat as equivalent to USDA-inspected. One thing R-CALF does that perplexes me is they say they are the largest producer-only cattle trade association in the U.S.
The NCBA plan is to: Drive growth in export markets with a goal of 17 percent of domestic production; grow consumer trust in beef production by growing the consumer trust index to 125 and expanding the beef quality audit 10 percent a year; develop and implement better business models to improve price discovery and value distribution across all segments by maintaining a cow herd of 32 million head and growing packing capacity 7,000 head per day. They want to improve the business climate for beef by addressing opportunities and challenges in a way that enhances the business climate for beef promotion and capitalizes on the multiple advantages of beef by achieving a wholesale beef demand index of 124. And, they want to safeguard and cultivate investment in beef industry research, marketing, and innovation by raising checkoff funding to $100 million by 2025.
The way I see these two groups is that one wants to improve cattle value through mCOOL and the other wants to pull value into the beef supply chain through producing a better, safer product. There is a stark difference in how these two groups want to move the beef industry forward. And these decisions are all made by independent producers.
This industry has changed a lot since we conducted the first National Beef Quality Audit in 1991. Nobody knew how their cattle were performing every step of the way to the consumer’s plate. We found out that one in four steaks was unacceptable. That study started the industry down the quality safety course. Now the industry consistently produces 85 percent Choice and Prime beef on a weekly basis.
The packing industry had their problems too with food safety and massive product recalls. The packing industry was forced to create hazard analysis, critical control plans and they placed a bunch of intervention measures on production lines. Just imagine what they have had to do responding to COVID-19 to keep the chains running.
So, let’s find some compromise—2021 is going to be the year of unity in this nation. Let’s start with mCOOL. I don’t have a problem with labeling; it’s the mandatory part that mucks it up. But to have a labeling program you need a tracking system such as U.S. Cattle Trace. Let’s start by compromising on these two issues. Both have the potential to add value to your cattle. Animal traceability will certainly expand our export markets. — PETE CROW
