Building a Unified Voice for Farmers and Ranchers
By Jack Berger
Even though I was supposed to be headed to the Washington, D.C. fly-in for a Public Lands Council meeting and Congressional visits, I was honored to be one of three people from Wyoming asked to go to Reno, Nev. to the first Common Ground Coalition regional meeting. There were 33 of us chosen from seven Western states.
The first I heard of this was about three years ago when Joe Goggins of Montana came to a Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) meeting with a message about how ag groups needed to find some unity.
There are a lot of things those of us involved in ag generally agree on, and we needed to figure out a way to speak with one voice to get more accomplished and reach our goals.
In Wyoming, we are very fortunate to have a very accessible Congressional delegation, but other states are not as fortunate to have this luxury.
Even though we are generally in agreement on things affecting our industry, we can be more focused with other groups to have a very direct message on the issues we need to survive and thrive in our industry.
As with any industry group, there are topics we may have contrasting views about and these will not be discussed at this time – just the ones we can come together on, so we can make a difference.
WSGA has been involved in discussions on this with the Montana Stockgrowers Association and others trying to get the word out.
It wasn’t until a year ago in April a group of people got together in Denver at the original Common Ground Summit. Here, they identified several key points to focus on.
This has been moved forward by the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA). They are heavily invested in these four regional meetings, which I believe is a good business decision on their part because they are advocating for their customer base.
The main focus is the cow/calf producer, because if we lose the ability for them to succeed and profit, none of the rest of the beef supply chain above them can function.
The main points that came out of the Denver meeting were to achieve and maintain ag-friendly tax policy, which I believe was largely accomplished under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill; make risk management tools more effective.
I see how this could make it easier to use and possibly expanded to include bred cows since lenders like security, and improve access to labor, since seasonal labor is a problem and expanding the definition of an “ag worker” to include feedyards and auction markets may help.
Other main points were to increase flexibility for livestock haulers, as advocating for practical policies to prioritize both animal welfare and the realities of rural livestock transport are important and to create support for young and emerging livestock producers – there was much discussion on this topic from tax credits for mentorship, food security bond and deferred capital gains for the seller.
At the meeting in Reno, Nev., there was a lot of talk about predators, so we were able to expand the focus of the group to include the reform of the Endangered Species Act and the abuse of the Equal Access to Justice Act which environmental groups use to fund themselves.
We have been talking about these two issues for years, but the prospect of getting ag groups to address them with a unified voice might be the extra push we need to see change.
The other thing we got added to the docket was public lands and how important they are to the cow/calf producer and the entire beef supply chain.
Even though public lands are mainly in the West, this is a beef supply issue which affects our country’s food security.
They are going to attempt to relay to producers in the Eastern U.S. who do not run on public land how critical it is for public lands to contribute to the whole beef supply.
In coming months, there will be three more regional meetings around the U.S. – one in Omaha, Neb.; one in Nashville, Tenn. and one in Fort Worth, Texas.
I expect the outcome from those meetings to be very close to our final draft from Reno, Nev. on some topics, but there may be some regional differences. This may be a challenge for the LMA to mesh these differences into a common message to move forward.
LMA has a great staff, and I have confidence they can have a positive outcome.
This is all about the beef industry contributing to food security. Our livestock industry is better together and must unify with one voice.
Remember food security is national security.
Jack Berger ranches in the Saratoga area and is past president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. He has also served as a board member of the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District, member and chairman of the Wyoming Natural Resource Foundation and member of the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts.
