Cattle Industry Annual Convention
Many of Washington’s cattlemen and women are in Nashville, Tennessee this week to attend the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show. Attendees will have the opportunity to join with other cattle industry members from around the nation to make their voices heard in the decisions that concern and influence their industry. NCBA’s Vice President of Government Affairs, Colin Woodall, talks about a couple of these issues.
WOODALL: Death Tax for 2012 is our number one priority, because if we don’t get something fixed before the end of the year the exemption amount goes down to $1,000,000 per person, and anything over that is going to be taxed at 55%. Country of origin labeling is a concern because right now the world trade organization has said our program is in violation of international trade rules and if we don’t get it fixed then Canada and Mexico, which are our two top export markets for U.S.beef could retaliate against us. We need to work on a program that will make sure we’re not retaliated against, but also a program that truly gives consumers the information that they want.
Woodall also talks about why cattle producers everywhere, not just here in the northwest, should be concerned about federal land issues.
WOODALL: The reason why all producers need to worry about that is because when we look at a lot of these extremist groups, groups like The Center For Biological Diversity, The Western Watersheds Project, they are groups that want cattle producers off of the land. And typically they try all of their ideas out on the federal lands ranchers and if they’re successful there, then they’ll start moving their way East.
I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.