Ethan Lane’s life has taken a circuitous route. Born in Washington D.C. to parents employed on Capitol Hill, he was raised in Arizona, where he showed horses and sold real estate industry. Today, he serves as the vice president of government affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
Ethan’s mother worked for then-Sen. Paul Fannin (R-AZ), who was chair of the Senate Energy Committee in Washington, D.C. His father worked at the Department of the Interior until he was six months old and the family relocated to Arizona.
Even in Arizona, the family’s connection to the public sector remained strong. His mother continued her work on energy issues, and his father became the land commissioner. Ethan’s stepfather, a horse trader and team roper, introduced him to the world of horses at the tender age of two, igniting a lifelong passion for the agriculture industry. Ethan grew up showing horses in the American Quarter Horse Association and participating in roping events.
After attending the University of Mississippi, Ethan returned to Arizona and participated in the ranch brokerage business with the family for 10 years.
Heading back East
After the real estate crash, Ethan and his wife decided there was no better time than the present to enter politics, so they sold everything and relocated back to Washington, D.C. Ethan joked that at the time of his relocation, nobody wanted to hire a 32-year-old ranch broker from Arizona, so he started consulting for clients in natural resources, agricultural interests in California and the oil and gas industry in West Texas.
Ethan said he had the drive and ambition to be successful, especially after coming from earning a high income with real estate to taking a pay cut. Struggling through the financial setback, Ethan said, propelled him to build a successful business. He said he believes “everybody should go broke at least once because it’s an incredible motivator.”
Ethan shared he was fortunate to be part of a world where people understood the importance of land and natural resource management, which was the theme of his work. He continued that he was lucky to never work on issues he disagreed with.
Being in the consultation business gave him a unique perspective on understanding the motivations of congressional members. Ethan said congressional members are constantly running for re-election. Understanding those challenges alongside understanding their day-to-day operations and merging that knowledge with policy insights has shaped his perspective on navigating the political landscape.
After consulting for some Republican campaigns throughout the country, Ethan was approached by the Public Lands Council in 2015 to be the executive director.
“So, I closed down my practice to move into that role,” Ethan told WLJ. “When Colin Woodall became CEO of NCBA in 2019, he asked me to take over the operations here in Washington, D.C. and the rest is history. The years have flown by and there have been a few issues to deal with including the pandemic, but we are alive and kicking in 2024.”
Ethan said he didn’t plan to stay in Washington, D.C., for a while and kept the house in Arizona should his plans not work out. He said there are a lot of other things that are easier to lobby for than the cattle industry and agriculture. However, he sees the playing field and knows where he can have the most impact.
Ethan said the people at NCBA are educators who represent and translate the message from the hundreds of thousands of cattle producers throughout the U.S. Ethan continued it doesn’t matter if a producer has a large operation or 20 head, or whether it’s their primary income or they have a job in town, everybody can have a stake in the cattle industry.
“We spend a lot of time aggregating the view from ranch gates from coast to coast, none of which are the same, and translating a common message to members of Congress,” Ethan said. “A lot of times, they are not getting the real story. So, NCBA spends a lot of time saying, ‘Well, I understand what you heard,’ but here is the view from our members.”
Ethan’s role at NCBA is not just about representing the industry, but also about educating and advocating for the hundreds of thousands of cattle producers across the U.S. He finds it rewarding when producers from all corners of the country converge in Washington, D.C., to deliver a unified message to members of Congress about the industry and the journey of the steak from the ranch to their plates.
Ethan said he is encouraged by producers on all levels and from every portion of the country to continue voicing their opinions and engaging because it benefits their organization.
Challenges
Ethan said the Biden administration places an outsize focus on competitiveness and transparency, but stopping production of the July cattle inventory report would do a disservice to the industry.
“To bloviate to the public and to producers about all the good work they’re doing, while slashing the very tools that the real industry participants use to inform their decisions is at best disingenuous, and at worst it’s calculated malpractice,” Ethan said.
Ethan continued the report is used not only by the cattle industry but also by Extension agents and university researchers to compile other data. Ethan said it would be difficult to make policy decisions and engage in the market without the report and hopes the USDA will see the error in their ways. Ethan said NCBA is talking to congressional members and they have reacted very poorly to the decision.
He underlined the significant challenges facing the industry, particularly the influence of animal rights groups. These groups, taking advantage of political divisions and unifying their message, are actively working to dismantle animal agriculture.
Ethan said animal rights groups felt victorious after the Supreme Court upheld Proposition 12 in California and took their campaigns to the state and local levels. Ethan cited the ballot initiatives in Colorado and Oregon as an example.
He said it is important that NCBA helps Congress understand the larger playing field and that sometimes a new bill or government program is not the solution. Ultimately, Ethan said consumer demand is high and they like the product that ranchers across the country are producing. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
1 Comment