Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) USA recently released what they are calling “the first ever long-range plan for cattle producers.”
The plan was developed in response to “2020’s unprecedented anomalies in the U.S. cattle market, and the lack of responsiveness from either policymakers or the beef industry to take corrective actions,” according to a press release from the group.
The plan lays out a five-year path for U.S. cattle producers and includes the following objectives:
• Grow demand for U.S. cattle by increasing demand for cattle born, raised and harvested in the U.S.;
• Increase market transparency and competition for cattle born and raised in the U.S.;
• Protect the “liberties and freedoms” of U.S. independent cattle producers;
• Reform legal and regulatory framework so producers can protect the marketplace on their own;
• Strengthen the industry’s role in lasting food security for the nation; and
• Shift away from global standardization and rely on free-market principles.
R-CALF calls the plan a “stark contrast” to National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) plan released last summer, and claims NCBA’s plan “attempts to bring U.S. cattle producers into compliance with the beef packer’s desire to assert greater control over cattle producers through strategies that also increase production costs.”
NCBA released their 2021-2025 Beef Industry Long Range Plan in late July, which lays out a vision for making beef the protein of choice. The plan’s objectives are to promote the nutritional and health values of beef; expand processing capacity; increase research and communication about sustainability; and make traceability a reality.
“The beef industry, which is dominated by highly concentrated beef packers, has been driving the direction of the U.S. cattle industry for decades, and as demonstrated by current market conditions, the outcome has not been favorable for U.S. cattle producers,” said R-CALF Board President Gerald Schreiber. “Our plan elevates the cattle producer’s role in shaping a better future for our industry.”
R-CALF says their vision is for the agricultural industry to support rural communities and be comprised of family-owned and operated cattle operations, “whose owners and operators are free to make their own production and marketing decisions.”
Growing demand
R-CALF’s plan to grow demand for U.S. cattle by growing demand for U.S. born, raised, and harvested beef begins with passing mandatory country-of-origin labeling legislation. This would require all beef from cattle harvested in the U.S. to be labeled with where the animal was born, raised and harvested, and for all beef from cattle harvested in a foreign country to retain its foreign country-of-origin (COOL) labeling.
The plan sets a goal of 2025 for 100 percent of beef sold at retail and 40 percent of beef sold at food service establishments to be labeled with COOL. Also, by 2025, the plan calls for 90 percent of all domestic beef advertisements to be paid for by a producer-funded checkoff to advertise beef exclusively born, raised and harvested in the U.S.
In addition, the plan lays out increasing the number of domestic pet food manufacturers that source beef and beef products exclusively born, raised and harvested in the U.S. by 10 percent each year.
Competition, transparency
R-CALF plans to increase the volume of fed cattle sold in the cash market to at least 50 percent in 2021 and maintain at least 50 percent through 2025. Also by 2025, the group aims to completely end the ownership and control of cattle for more than 14 days and the use of unpriced formula-type contracts by packers that own multiple beef packing plants; and increase the share of fed cattle slaughtered by packers that own only one packing plant to at least 35 percent.
Liberties and freedoms
To “preserve and protect the liberties and freedoms of U.S. independent cattle producers,” the plan gives producers the option to choose among a variety of animal ID devices when shipping cattle across state lines, without any sort of mandate.
R-CALF also plans to give producers the opportunity to vote in a Beef Checkoff referendum (the group is currently collecting signatures to repeal the current Beef Checkoff). Beef destined for the export market will only be labeled as “Product of the USA” if beef was born, raised and harvested in the U.S.
Finally, R-CALF plans for all previously reduced grazing restrictions on rancher allotments to be lifted.
Protect the marketplace
The plan includes an objective to lay out legal and regulatory framework for producers to “protect the marketplace on their own” and sets a goal of 2025 for producers and packers to understand what constitutes unfair practices and undue or unreasonable preference or advantage under the Packers and Stockyards Act. This would then lead to fewer instances of anticompetitive market conduct under the act, according to the group.
Food security
To “strengthen the industry’s role in lasting food security,” R-CALF plans for the consumption of cattle born, raised and harvested in the U.S.to constitute at least 90 percent of domestic beef consumption by 2025.
Doing so will lead to reductions in meat recalls from imported beef and incidences of foreign animal disease, R-CALF said.
Global standardization
For the plan’s last objective, R-CALF plans to step away from global standardization, and for cattle producers to not be compelled to meet globally established production standards, and to only do so if there are opportunities for greater profitability.
The plan also wants to see more small- to mid-sized feedlots geographically widespread, and more packing plants geographically widespread.
“Our long-range plan provides the blueprint for cattle producers to take the steps necessary to preserve and protect our markets and our freedoms,” concluded Region VII Director Mike Jones. — Anna Miller, WLJ editor
