At the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego, Senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays spoke with NCBA President Buck Wehrbein. Our Coverage from San Diego is powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.
NCBA President Buck Wehrbein expressed optimism about the current state of the industry. “This has been very enjoyable. High markets are always good, and a lot of good wins in Washington for us.” Wehrbein pointed to favorable weather in many regions and a supportive federal government and USDA as major reasons for confidence, adding, “We have a very friendly administration, a very good and friendly Secretary of Ag, so we’re pretty happy.”
Wehrbein emphasized the importance of recent legislation – the Big, Beautiful Bill,” which he said contained significant wins for cattle producers. “Frankly, the one big, beautiful bill cattle people got basically everything we asked for in that.” He highlighted key provisions like stepped-up basis and changes to the death tax, and praised the NCBA’s Washington staff: “I’m very proud of our staff in Washington, DC, that worked very hard on that and have for a long time.”
While many policy developments have been positive, Wehrbein acknowledged emerging threats, particularly the spread of the New World screw worm. “It was October, November when they first found it down there,” he said, referring to southern Mexico. “We tried to work with and encourage the Mexican government which they did not accomplish. So now it’s on the way.” Still, he remains confident: “We know how to get rid of it. That’s the good news. We have some tools now to treat cattle and so forth that we didn’t have back then.”
Wehrbein praised the administration’s approach to the issue, noting that “this administration is committed to helping us with producing the sterile flies and finding the money for that.” He also expressed appreciation for the Secretary of Agriculture: “We’ve got a Secretary of Ag who’s making good decisions and timely decisions, and we really, really appreciate her.” He reiterated NCBA’s role in supporting strong policymaking, saying, “NCBA is doing its best to help her make good, wise decisions.”
Another concern for the industry is the evolving conversation around tariffs, especially with China. “The tariff issue is an interesting one… that’s how many opinions there are on tariffs,” Wehrbein said. He reflected on past trade conditions under Trump: “He was a tariff guy then too, and it seemed like trade worked pretty well.” While acknowledging complexity, he remained pragmatic: “Cattlemen are free traders… but we also realize President Trump ran on this issue. We need to give him a chance to work on it.” Overall, Wehrbein emphasized NCBA’s mission to “help them understand what we need and what’s good for cattle producers and the food chain.”
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