NCBA outlines 2025 policy priorities
During CattleCon 2025, held Feb. 4-6 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Executive Committee approved the organization’s policy priorities for the coming year.
Overall, NCBA’s focus for 2025 is to engage with the new Trump administration and Congress to expand opportunities for producer profitability.
“NCBA will continue advocating for passage of a long-term farm bill and pushing to extend the critical tax provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which expire at the end of the year,” states Buck Wehrbein, NCBA’s newly-elected president and a cattle producer from Nebraska. “We will also be continuing to fight for more flexibility for grazing and voluntary conservation work which is vital to preventing catastrophic wildfires that have been raging across the country.”
“Over the past few years, producers have been increasingly squeezed by onerous regulatory burdens, including unscientific Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings and the rapidly changing enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). This government overreach has prevented meaningful conservation efforts, leaving America’s treasured natural resources in worse condition and cattle producers in a position of great uncertainty with soaring legal and accounting bills,” he adds.
Wehrbein continues, “NCBA is laser focused on advancing federal policies to help improve the general business climate and give producers more opportunities moving forward to increase the profitability of their operations.”
Pursuing regulatory actions
In an effort to enhance producer profitability, NCBA says it will focus on pursuing regulatory action across a range of industry-related issues, including removing harmful regulations introduced during the Biden administration and rolling back climate policies which create unnecessary burdens for the nation’s farmers and ranchers.
NCBA will continue its advocacy of beef as a leading source of high-quality protein by fighting the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s “misguided” recommendations of replacing beef with beans, peas and lentils, while pursuing other federal nutrition policies reflecting the nutritional value of beef, as well as expanding market access for beef exports and ensuring animal health and food safety standards for imported beef.
NCBA will also work to ensure all labeling requirements for fake meat products are transparent, accurate and fair and work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement a reformed “Product of the USA” labeling program promoting voluntary, verified, trade-compliant labeling in order to return value to producers.
Like many other industry organizations, animal health is top of mind for NCBA, and the organization has pledged to prioritize protections for the U.S. cattle herd from foreign animal disease through heightened preparedness actions, while ensuring access to the use of antimicrobial drugs which allow the prevention, control and treatment of many cattle diseases.
NCBA’s 2025 policy priorities also include hot button issues like the ever-changing regulations of the CTA, workforce shortages and private property rights issues.
In fact, the association has vowed to “fight for meaningful long-term relief from the burdensome reporting requirements of the CTA, safeguard the U.S. cattle and beef supply chain by working with the administration to ensure a strong workforce which meets consumer demand and keep working lands working by protecting family farms from undue regulatory burdens under the ESA, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act and other regulations.”
Lastly, NCBA hopes to push for hours-of-service flexibility and the continued delay of electronic logging device requirements for livestock haulers, as well as streamlining the federal permitting process.
Working with Congress
In addition to the 13 regulatory actions NCBA will work to pursue this year, the agency has also outlined six priorities to work with Congress on.
These include preserving family farms and ranches for future generations by advocating for essential tax relief; enhancing wildfire prevention through the use of targeted grazing, controlled burns and forest management practices to protect grazing lands and securing resources to support cow/calf producers as the industry works to implement disease traceability requirements.
NCBA will also work to retain core wins regarding the farm bill passed by the 2024 House Agriculture Committee; protect producers access to voluntary conservation tools to support resource stewardship and support effective predator control measures and compensation programs.
Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
