National Cattmen's Beef Association Wants Farm Bill Programs That Work for Producers

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, executive director of government affairs, Allison Rivera says that they are engaging in a 2023 farm bill process to make sure that cattle producers have programs in place that work for them. Rivera says NCBA wants to ensure that the 2023 farm bill include dollars for foreign animal disease preparedness, the vaccine bank that houses a Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine, and she says they will be monitoring voluntary conservation programs along with others.

“We're also going to take a look at risk management programs, we've seen a huge uptick in the usage of programs like livestock risk protection, pasture Ranger and forage is a very popular program. So we're going to make sure again that those programs are working for our members and our producers. And that you know that there's a sufficient funding there as well for those programs. And then disaster programs is another huge area. You know, we're still seeing drought, wildfires, you name it, we've seen it across the country. So we want to make sure that those programs work for producers and that they again have sufficient funding.”

Rivera says it will be a tough go getting a farm bill passed and she hopes that there will not be a lot of extra issues brought up.

“A lot of times when we see a larger package like a farm bill that's moving. You know, people take the opportunity to throw everything, the baby with the bathwater, if you will, and throw everything in there and we just want to stick to these issues and just make sure that we get this bill done.”

Allison Rivera with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association