Cattle producers worked for more than six hours yesterday during the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in Denver to identify a policy that would help resolve concerns about live cattle marketing issues and lead the industry to more robust price discovery. NCBA’s Live Cattle Marketing Committee considered several proposals, each aimed at encouraging greater volumes of cash cattle trade. After intense debate, the committee and the NCBA Board of Directors unanimously passed a policy that supports voluntary efforts to improve cash fed cattle trade during the next 90 days with the potential for mandates in the future if robust regional cash trade numbers are not reached by the industry.
“The policy decisions we made this week truly show the grassroots policy process at work. We had tremendous turnout for this year’s summer meeting, clearly demonstrating that cattle producers needed the opportunity to meet in person to hammer out solutions to these important issues,” said NCBA President Marty Smith.
Smith noted the work of the Live Cattle Marketing committee caps months of working group efforts to find industry- and market-driven solutions to increase price discovery without government mandates.
“The policy we passed today is the result of every state cattlemen’s association coming together to work through their differences and find solutions that meet the needs of their members, all of whom agree that our industry needs more robust price discovery. This policy provides all players in the industry the opportunity to achieve that goal without seeking government mandates,” said Smith. “Everyone who took the time to participate in this process over the past several months and throughout this week’s meetings is to be commended.”
The adopted policy in its entirety can be viewed here.