The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is a trade association and policy group that represents all segments of the cattle industry: producers, feeders, and breeders. The association has over 28,000 individual members and represents over 230,000 people in the industry. The current president of NCBA, Scott George, is a cow/calf producer from Wyoming with a long history in the dairy industry and policy groups as a member of the Farm Bureau. In addition to its role in U.S. policy, the NCBA conducts research, marketing, and promotional work for cattle ranchers. The NCBA’s vision is “an industry united around a common goal of being the world’s most trusted and preferred source of beef and beef products.” The economic interests of the cattle industry is at the forefront of the organization’s policy positions, but the group also works towards animal welfare, food safety, and protecting the environment (“About Us”).
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s history is complicated and consists of many name changes, splits and mergers, and policy wins and losses through wars and market crashes. Its beginning dates back to 1898, when a large group of national cattle producers decided they needed a collective voice to fight against meat packer monopolies and high railroad costs and created the National Live Stock Association. In its first few years of establishment, the NLSA struggled to work as a group; conflicts between cattle producers and sheep growers, groups leaving the organization to form their own, and no unified policy beliefs among members were only some of the issues. The NLSA combined with the American Stock Growers Association in 1906, and began to work as a whole. The new group, the American National Live Stock Association...
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...ny other policy group, the NCBA uses these past experiences and knowledge to educate and influence the government’s current and future policies. The NCBA has made great strides in its long history and hopes to continue its success in representing the US cattle industry.
Works Cited
"About Us." beefusa.org. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. N.p.. Web. 5 Feb 2014.
Blaney, Betsy, and Mary Clare Jalonick. "Groups: Meat Labeling Rules Could Start Trade War." Ventura County Star. Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group, 3 Feb 2014. Web. 5 Feb 2014.
"Issues." beefusa.org. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. N.p.. Web. 5 Feb 2014.
"National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Opposes Farm Bill." Southeast Farm Press. Penton, 4 Feb 2014. Web. 5 Feb 2014.
Patrick, G.F. "Association History." beefusa.org. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. N.p. Web. 5 Feb 2014.
“U.S. Meat Production,” PSR, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington, D.C. 2014. Print. Web 1 Apr. 2014.
The U.S. Department of Interior’s, Bureau of Land Management, (BLM) was appointed to carry out the Act and given the task of managing the herds of wild horses and burros. Consequently, BLM’s management of wild horse herds has been highly criticized by animal rights activists, horse advocates, news media, as well as members of Congress. There have been numerous lawsuits filed against BLM regarding their management practices and their appalling wild horse round-ups. However, unimpeded BLM continues with the controversial issue of wild horse round-ups, resulting in the death and injury of many wild horses and burros. The vast majority of these round...
For as long as there have been horse slaughterhouses in the United States, they have been an issue of controversy (Associated Press State and Local Wire, 8/7/01). Currently, only two slaughterhouses that produce horse meat intended...
In 1919, farmers from thirty states, including Missouri, saw a need. They gathered in Chicago and formed the American Farm Bureau Federation. In 1919, they had one goal, they wanted to speak for themselves with the help of their own national organization. Since 1919, Farm Bureau has operated by a philosophy that states: “analyze the problem of farmers and develop a plan of action for these problems” (Missouri). In the past 94 years, the A...
...in the market. Diversified mid-sized family farms used to produce most of our meat, but now, only a few companies control the livestock industry. This has resulted in driving family farmers out of the market and replacing them with massive confined feeding operations that subject the animals to terrible living conditions that subject our food to contamination. Major food corporations are only concerned with minimizing overhead in order to deliver the consumer cheap food, regardless of the health implications.
"Meatpacking in America: Still a Jungle Out There? . NOW |." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
... government inspection of meat products. The Pure Food and Drug act also passed after the Meat inspection Act of 1906. The packers denied the charges and opposed the bills to no avail. These bills protected the publics right to safe sanitary meat.
...eats contact. Finally, families who eat spinal or nervous tissue of cows can greatly reduce their risks of developing mad cow disease by not purchasing such items. The beef industry is willingly under surveillance, making all attempts to produce safe and healthy products. American residents should be assured that all necessary precautions have been taken to keep Mad Cow Disease out of the United States and consumer-friendly beef on market shelves. An excerpt from the FDA Consumer Magazine leaves the nation with this very “important message from both the Harvard and GAO studies. . . We must continue to work hard to make a good system even better. The FDA and the states will continue their aggressive inspection program and will continue to work closely with all components of the cattle and feed communities to help make a, thankfully, low public risk even lower.”
Cone, Tracie. "USDA, McDonald's suspend slaughterhouse buys." USA TODAY. USA TODAY, 22 Aug 2012. Web. 23 Feb 2014.
The meat packing industry in the U.S is one of the top industries that make an example of bringing corruption to new heights. According to the article “Corrupt American Food Industry is too powerful”, the meat packing industry obtains far more power than what should be acquired. The people of America have the right to know what process the meat they are consuming goes through in order for it to sit in their refrigerators. The American people should have the right to know what kind of cruel difficulties come into play when it comes down to the meat industry. The largest meat packing industries make their money by slaughtering animals, and harming living beings behind closed doors. “Welcome to the land of the free, where we consider prioritizing money over clean resources and human and animal welfare” (Ray1) is used to demonstrate the way the meat packing industry within the Unites States operates (1).
The seemingly simple term “rancher” is commonly misinterpreted. The term rancher may bring to mind a guy riding a bucking bull or horse in a western movie or maybe a tough looking guy without much brains raising cattle on the prairie. Other people think of a farmer. Actual ranchers specifically raise cattle, while farmers raise crops, hogs, and poultry. Modern ranchers are hardworking men and women who live off the land raising cattle for consumers. Despite popular beliefs, it takes a lot of knowledge to raise cattle. American ranchers use business and technology skills to raise cattle. Even with these skills, they are still at the mercy of Mother Nature and gamble with her every year.
Most of us do not think twice about the foods we pick up from the supermarket. Many Americans have a preconceived belief that the food being sold to us is safe, and withholds the highest standard of quality. Certainly, compared to many places in the world, this is true. But is the United States sincerely trying to carry out these standards, or have we begun to see a reverse in the health and safety of our food- and more explicitly in our meat? Jonathan Foer, author of “Eating Animals” argues for reform within the food industry- not only for the humane treatment of animals but moreover for our own health. Although Foer exposes the ills within the food industries in order to persuade readers to change their diets for the better, his “vegetarianism or die” assessment may be too extreme for most Americans. The true ills do not start with the meat, but with industrialized production of it through methods practiced by factory farming.
America focuses heavily on its livestock and crops earning us a major role in global trade as a farming nation. Unfortunately this has led to some poor choices in treatment of our animals. Many farmers who believe in animal rights say that it started back when farmers only tended to fewer animals, “Ownership of farm animals became concentrated in fewer hands, and flocks and herds grew larger. As a result, the individuality of animals was lost to their owners and they began receding from most people's everyday life” (Namit 29). When people lost their connection to the animals that provided their food, the quality of the animal's lives began to dramatically decrease. Consumers constantly pushed farmers to their limits with high quotas. To keep up with demands agriculturalists turned to some unorthodox practices to keep costs low and still maintain their annual quotas; “To raise efficiency and cut costs, farm animals began to be engineered for abnormally rapid weight gain, fed unnatu...
An abundance of Americans have no idea that most of the food that they consume are either processed or altered in one way or another. “Almost all beef cattle entering feedlots in the United States are given hormone implants to promote faster growth. The first product used for this purpose is DES (diethylstilbestrol) it was approved for use in beef cattle in 1954. An estimated two-thirds of the nation's beef cattle were treated with DES in 1956. (Swan, Liu, Overstreet, Brazil, and Skakkebaek)” Many people enjoy the various meats that comes from a cow, but that would probably change if the consumers knew that cattle is one of the most processed meat source in the market today because of the synthetic hormones that the cows are given. “ The three synthetic hormones are the estrogen compound zeranol, the androgen trenbolone acetate, and progestin melengestrol acetate. (Swan, Liu, Overstreet, B...
The Cow and Calf division of the Animal Health segment markets its products direct to cattle ranchers. Such products include vaccines, medications, and antibiotics to support healthy and consistent herds of beef producing cattle. It segmented the market into three distinct categories. Hobbyists herd less than 100 cows; Traditionalists commonly carry between 100 to 499, and Businesses are working with 500 or more. (Mohr, 1999) Time spent in the field with the ranchers was allocated based on the volume of product purchased by each individual. Those that spent higher dollar amounts received the most attention (in the form of personal visits, seminar offerings, and trial product samples).