At the 2024 CattleCon held in Orlando, Florida, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays had the chance to talk with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall. In part 2 of the conversation, Woodall talks about anti-animal agriculture groups and more.
Our coverage from the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Orlando is being powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.
“What they do is try to convince the average American that they are helping local pet shelters, that they are helping dogs and cats, and they are not,” Woodall said. “If you take ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), for example, their commercials are on television every single day. Less than two percent of the money they raise actually goes to helping local shelters.”
Using the “one bite at a time” strategy, anti-animal agriculture groups have made it their mission to chip away at animal agriculture.
“That is why they supported Prop 12, that is why they supported Waters of the United States because they knew if Waters of the United States was going to go through, it was going to make it harder for us to actually do what we do,” Woodall said.
By using ballot initiatives, Woodall said these groups are supporting any type of legislation that will make life harder for animal agriculture.
There are also producer groups who are unhappy with the NCBA’s ties to the Beef Checkoff. Woodall says it’s important to understand that the organization is a contractor for the Checkoff- one of nine checkoff contractors and is not the checkoff itself. And he adds that there is a robust firewall between checkoff funded work and the policy side of the organization. Government oversight by USDA enforces that line.
Of those groups who are critical of NCBA, “One thing they fail to understand is that this association (NCBA) is driven by its membership, and its membership are cattle producers,” Woodall said. “In fact, we are the oldest and largest national trade association representing this industry. We are now starting our 126th year in existence, and it is because it belongs to the producers. Cattle producers lead this organization, cattle producers debate the issues, and they set the policy we then use. That is why we are able to be effective in Washington, D.C., in a way that no other group in this space has been able to replicate.”
When it comes to legislation such as the OFF Act, which is aimed at slowing down meat consumption, Woodall talked about the threat of this legislation to the Beef Checkoff.
“This would fundamentally change the checkoff in a way that would take contractors like NCBA out of the game,” Woodall said. “NCBA is a contractor of the checkoff. We are not the checkoff. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not understand that.”
To listen to Ron Hays talk about the proponents of the OFF Act in a previous conversation with Colin Woodall, CLICK HERE.
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