Farm Progress

Iowa Cattlemen set policy priorities for 2018Iowa Cattlemen set policy priorities for 2018

Association discussed 2018 legislative and policy issues at recent annual ICA Leadership Summit.

December 28, 2017

4 Min Read
CATTLE CONCERNS: The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association has completed its policy development process for 2018, setting the most important topics and issues ICA will work on during the 2018 legislative session.

Limiting the growth of environmental regulations, expanding international trade opportunities and exploring ways to limit market volatility are top priorities for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association in 2018. The recent Iowa Cattle Industry Leadership Summit also included discussions on immigration and animal health.

The Dec. 7-8 summit in Ames combined educational sessions with policy committee meetings. A full summary of ICA’s new and amended policies is online.

Goal to improve cattle business
ICA, with 10,000 members statewide, uses advocacy, leadership and education to protect and improve Iowa’s cattle business. The 2017 ICA Policy Survey indicated that environmental regulations, international trade and market volatility are the most important topics producers want ICA to be working on.

ICA has previously set policy related to each of those issues. The recent meetings were a chance to fine-tune those policies, as well as create new policy related to other important issues facing the industry.

Lobbying on issues
ICA will lobby on these issues over the next few months. It has three policy committees: Beef Products, Business Issues and Cattle Production. Open to ICA members, committee meetings generate

ICA positions related to topics affecting Iowa’s beef business. These policies drive the efforts of ICA and are used by staff and leaders in discussions with local and national elected officials andregulatory agencies. The committees in detail:

• Beef Products. The Beef Products Committee has strong policy supporting international trade, which is increasingly relevant as ongoing NAFTA negotiations and trade relationships threaten the Iowa beef industry. No new policies were discussed in this committee meeting.

• Business Issues. The Business Issues committee heard an update from ICA lobbyist Kellie Pashcke on state legislative issues, including foreign animal disease concerns and water quality funding, which remain a priority for producers.

In 2017, with the support of ICA, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship was able to secure $100,000 in funding for foreign animal disease response, to protect Iowa’s cattle producers in case of an outbreak. This year, despite state budget constraints, IDALS is asking the Iowa Legislature for an additional $150,000, for a total 2018 appropriation of $250,000 for disease preparedness.

Last summer, ICA members developed an interim policy related to Iowa’s master matrix, the system used to evaluate the building of proposed new livestock confinements in counties in Iowa.

The policy states: “A fair and reasonable master matrix is crucial for future growth of the Iowa cattle industry, and enables a new generation of farmers to invest in and strengthen rural areas of Iowa.” This interim policy was approved by the committee at the meeting.

ICA members, including past-president Kent Pruismann, discussed the importance of immigrant labor to Iowa agriculture, particularly in northwest Iowa. “If we exported or deported all of the illegal immigrants in Sioux County, Iowa, our economy would collapse, plain and simple, there’s no question about it,” Pruismann said.

Ed Greiman, another past president of the association, agreed. “We’ve got to figure out a way to make it simple, with a path they know they can follow to become legal citizens,” he said.

The ICA policy committee created an immigration task force to study the issue, and passed policy supporting legal immigration and a pathway to citizenship.

Transportation regulations, including hours of service and electronic logging devices, have also been a concern for cattle producers, especially as new federal rules are scheduled to go into place soon.

The ICA committee approved policy supporting an exemption from these rules for livestock haulers. Livestock haulers often transport their live cargo long distances, and it is in the best interest of everyone involved to reach the destination with as few delays as possible.

The committee created a Conservation Reserve Program task force to study modifications to the current CRP. The program is expected to be revisited in the 2018 Farm Bill, and ICA is concerned the current program puts cattle producers at a disadvantage.

Government funding for rural roads and bridges was also discussed, along with taxation of government owned land.

• Cattle Production. Cattle markets are a continuing topic. The committee reviewed interim policy from last summer, including a policy that supported dividing USDA’s negotiated trade reports into 0- to 14-day and 15- to 30-day delivery periods, to give cattle producers more information on trades that have occurred. That policy was carried forward to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s summer policy conference, adopted by NCBA, and led USDA to make the requested changes.

Other market-related policies included support for increased funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which provides oversight of the cattle futures markets, and support for the current daily price limits for Live Cattle and Feeder Cattle futures. Both of these policies are intended to reduce price volatility in the market and help manage price risk for cattle producers.

The committee also tackled the issues of trichomoniasis disease in Iowa. A task force has been created to study ways to decrease the impact trichomoniasis has on Iowa’s cattle industry, and policy was passed to support increased testing for this sexually transmitted disease.

ICA members also ratified the new and amended policies. Outgoing president Mike Cline of Elgin turned over the leadership of ICA to David Trowbridge, a farmer from Tabor in southwest Iowa. He’ll serve as president for two years. New and amended ICA policy will be added to the 2018 policy.

Source: Iowa Cattlemen’s Association


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