NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 2, 2012 – National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President-Elect J.D. Alexander spoke to a record crowd of nearly 7,000 cattlemen and women at the second general session of the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Nashville about regulations from Washington, D.C. being imposed on the industry.
Alexander called the estate tax his top policy priority as the 2012 NCBA president.
“The death tax is the biggest deterrent to young people returning to the cattle business,” Alexander said. “What we need now are jobs, a stable economy and food for a growing global population. Leaving the next generation to choose between a life they love or the inability to pay the estate tax is not something we will tolerate.”
He emphasized grassroots advocacy as the primary reason the cattle industry was able to “weather the storm” of attempted regulations.
“Because of the partnership between our state affiliates and your national organization, we managed to prevent ourselves from being the main course at the big government café,” said Alexander, who is also a cattleman from Nebraska. “This partnership – this grassroots policy process – is the shining star of this industry. You have a voice and it is being heard loud and clear.”
Alexander used the regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration’s proposed rule on livestock marketing; and the Department of Transportation’s proposed rule, which would have required cattlemen to acquire commercial driver’s licenses, as examples of cattlemen’s successful pushback of regulations.
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