Beef Buzz News
NCBA's Ethan Lane Hopes to Ensure Risk Management Tools Are Available for all Sectors of Cattle Production
Thu, 05 May 2022 10:37:26 CDT
Back with Ethan Lane, Vice President for Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and head of the NCBA's Washington D.C. Office. Farm Director, KC Sheperd visited with Lane earlier this week at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual Washington Watch.
Lane talks about disaster assistance for cattle producers and issues with wildlife conservation.
One of Lane's priorities, he said, is making sure disaster tools and conservation tools are accessible for producers. He wants to ensure these opportunities are present for risk management at the cow-calf sector, he added.
"LRP all of a sudden is becoming a more important program for those producers with those subsidy moves a couple of years ago," Lane said. "There has been a tremendous increase in the use of those programs."
While it is good that the use of Livestock Risk Protection Programs has increased, Lane said he wants to make sure that there are tools available for producers to manage their risk at every segment of production.
"We know the risk is increasing, but let's make sure those tools are keeping pace with that environment so these guys are equipped for whatever may come their way," Lane said. "We've seen it all in the last couple of years."
Whether it be a fire, flood, international crisis or drought, Lane said we have got to make sure we have these tools refreshed and working for producers.
"We are doing listening sessions for our producers around the country right now on a regional basis," Lane said. "Getting that input, making sure that we are picking up on those items that might be important to those that aren't part of the conversation back here right now."
Lane said they get input from producers about how some programs can improve. This is important, he added, because that input helps them have a clear set of asks for the farm bill process.
Pivoting to the ongoing worries caused by the Endangered Species Act, "I've been working on the lesser prairie chicken for longer than I would like to admit," Lane said. "It is one of those things that is really kind of the demonstration case for what is wrong with the endangered species act. It is why we spend so much time around here trying to fix the 40-year-old law that has never worked the way that it was intended, as well-meaning as it might be."
Ranchers and farmers are putting that conservation on the ground, Lane said, and we have seen the birds rebound and the habitat improve. Because of the oil and gas side that was not contributing, Lane said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was given the justification to relist the species.
'We overturned the last one in court, and we will see what happens this time around, but it is that battle between bird count and habitat count," Lane said.
It is hard to figure out what recovery or success looks like, Lane said, when it seems like a bit of a moving target.
"It's always a losing proposition with fish and wildlife and that is a challenge," Lane said. "It's not entirely their fault. The system is designed for it to be attacked in court. You have these environmental groups that have mastered the ability to go to court with these delisting rules and overturn them on a technicality."
It's never on the science, Lane said, it's on a technicality.
"Until we fix that, we are going to still talk about this," Lane said. "These species are going to haunt us in rural America until we can fix the underlying endangered species act."
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear more from NCBA's Ethan Lane on risk management and wildlife conservation.
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