Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays had an in-depth conversation with NCBA’s Vice President of Governmental Affairs Ethan Lane and has been featuring highlights from it over the past couple of days of BeefBuzz. On Wednesday, they discussed the necessity of Trump’s tariff policies and why NCBA supports them. On Thursday, they discussed the challenges of getting a renewed tax bill. Today, they are discussing Trump’s Cabinet and potential impacts on agriculture.
Lane shared that Kennedy has touted beef on social media as an important part of a healthy diet, so he is encouraged by the signs, considering that the HHS agency is responsible for completing the dietary guidelines process.
“The recommendations coming out of the Biden era were not good for beef,” Lane explained. “They were preloaded with an anti-beef bias. The recommendations reflected that in that sort of arbitrary reduction in red meat intake, balanced out by beans, peas, and lentils.”
He described it as a “weird sort of equation” asking people to eliminate beef and substitute it with beans, peas, and lentils; however, the caloric content of those things is so high that other things in the diet have to be altered in order to balance out the equation.
“We’re hopeful that they recognize how stupid that is,” he said. “We are hopeful that they walk away from some of those recommendations, and his first term had to deal with dietary guidelines, and he navigated that process, well, so we are hopeful that is what we will see again, but as I think everyone recognizes at this point, Secretary Kennedy is the wildcard here.”
Lane pointed out that Kennedy’s views are different from those of traditional Republicans and emphasized the importance of utilizing engagement and education so that he and the rest of the White House understand the concerns of cattlemen. He noted that President Trump is in line with NCBA’s views and that Ag Secretary Rollins is also on their side.
“Brooke Rollins gets it,” he said. “She is a true champion for agriculture, and she understands that her role in this is to make sure she is protecting farmers and ranchers. We think she is going to do just that.”
Commenting on the closeness of Secretary Rollins and President Trump, Lane said, “It is a real benefit to U.S. agriculture to have a secretary who genuinely is part of the president’s inner circle and really has that connection with the president. He trusts her. She trusts him, and that relationship, I think, will pay huge dividends for U.S. agriculture as far as making sure we stay at the center of the conversation and aren’t an afterthought as we have been in previous administrations.”
When the conversation turned to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s intent to revise WOTUS, Lane brightened even more, saying, “The idea that we could be really, truly at the finish line of this conversation is just the best news in the world. We are delighted that EPA is taking on those last few open gates with the WOTUS rule.”
He gave credit to the Supreme Court for doing the heavy lifting with the Sackett decision. He added, “With the resulting rule from the Biden administration that conformed their final rule to the scope that the Supreme Court laid out, that got ninety percent of what we were concerned about with that WOTUS rule put in a good place.”
He pointed out that with something so complex, there are still a few open gates that need to be resolved, and Lane, along with many others, is hopeful that WOTUS issues will soon be a thing of the past once the EPA clarifies those issues.
Hays asked how Lane feels about Senate Majority Leader Thune and House Speaker Johnson’s working relationship, considering the tight margins in both branches. Lane answered, “I’m blessed to be able to say that I know both men. I knew both men before they were in their current roles. We could not have two leaders who were more genuinely thoughtful about this stuff. They are not guys that lean on platitudes. They are workers, and they are rational leaders and lawmakers. I think they are working out their relationship.
“There is always something, regardless of parties, that has to be dealt with between the House and the Senate for things to work properly. I think that relationship is coming along nicely. We are watching this reconciliation package moving through a very narrow margin environment, and it is cool to see a fresh leadership team take that stuff on. I think they are working well together, and I just can’t imagine two better people to be in those roles. They are both good guys that intend to do well, and that is about all we can ask for right now.”
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.
