Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with the government and industry affairs vice president at the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), Chelsea Good to talk about the republican trifecta, the farm bill, EID mandates, and more.
Good recounted the resounding victory for President-elect Trump and the Republican takeover of the House and Senate. “It was a trifecta for the republican party, and now there will be expectations that they are able to get things done,” Good said.
The completion of the farm bill and tax policies are priorities for the LMA. The farm bill contains provisions that may be impactful in reducing outdated regulations on livestock auctions, and the expiration of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act is at the forefront of many minds in agriculture and beyond.
Good and Hays believe that the Republican trifecta creates a little more assurance that these things will get done. Good said, “We are in a different fiscal situation than we were in in 2017, as it relates to our national debt, so I think it is going to take all of agriculture pushing together as it relates to things like full bonus depreciation and keeping a high exemption level for estate tax, and some of those pieces that are set to expire. I think we have to speak with a unified message and continue to push on those items.”
The EID mandate that went into effect on election day requires electronic identification tags on bovines crossing state lines. “From an LMA perspective, we believe that this shouldn’t be a producer expense. This shouldn’t be an unfunded mandate,” Good commented. “We pushed really hard for Congress to provide funds and a directive to USDA for those tags to be provided. That has occurred, and thankfully, in many states like Oklahoma, we do have plentiful tags and we are seeing those getting out to veterinarians and being taken advantage of.”
Good has, however, noted other states experiencing challenges getting the USDA-issued tags where they need to go so, they are available for use by producers; LMA has requested a delay in enforcement until USDA can work through those issues.
Another challenge is for livestock markets to obtain electronic readers. Although the tags are designed to be read visually as well as electronically, the purpose and expense of electronic tags become void if they are only read visually.
“Readers are another thing that we believe is part of the fundamental infrastructure for this, and needs to be provided by USDA,” Good stated. “We’ve seen markets transition as some have started working with those readers. Some have seen a good transition, others have seen fits and starts with the new technology, so that is another challenge we are working through.”
Other things that LMA is focused on going forward is the new Department of Government Efficiency and the opportunities and challenges that it may present.
“We want to be partners in that process,” Good said. “That is something that our Government Affairs and Board is going to be working on is having our own recommendations of outdated regulations. That is going to be a big project for us, but an exciting one.” The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
