Idaho Beef Producers Talk with NCBA

July 31, 2002

Nearly 300 Idaho beef producers had an open dialog late last week about industry concerns with National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Chief Executive Officer Terry Stokes during a series of four local meetings. The town hall meetings were the first of a series of visits planned around the country by Stokes to "put a stethoscope on the heartbeat of members." The tour was hosted by the Idaho Cattle Association (ICA), which is a fully unified partner with NCBA.

"The open dialog with producers is tremendously helpful in setting direction for NCBA," said Stokes. "I appreciate the leadership of the Idaho Cattle Association in organizing these important meetings. NCBA is a producer-directed organization with a representative governing structure. Being producer-directed, it's important to get out in the country and meet with those producers who may not always have a chance to travel to state- or national-level industry meetings.

"Many of the issues are the same at the national, state and local levels - cattle pricing and marketing, the beef checkoff, disaster relief, death taxes and public lands - but each producer relates to the issues in their own way," continued Stokes. "Listening to individual concerns will help me and our producer leaders to understand how NCBA can better represent the interests of cattlemen."

"I was really pleased with the turn out at the four meetings held in Mountain Home, Indian Valley, Nampa and Silver City," said NCBA President-Elect Eric Davis, a cattleman from Bruneau, ID. "We had some serious discussions that reflect the economic stress producers are facing today. But these discussions - on issues from trade to marketing to food safety - reinforce the need for a national organization to represent the interests of the industry." Davis said, "NCBA is the multi-issue organization for the beef and cattle industry and it is doing good for beef producers, regardless of their size, segment or location."

Stokes shared stops on the tour with representatives from the Idaho Cattle Association and CattleWomen, Idaho Beef Council, Idaho State Department of Agriculture, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Pfizer Animal Health, which sponsored a portion of the tour.

Stokes plans to listen to and gain input from producers through a series of 14 local meetings. A minimum of two meetings will be held in each of NCBA's seven regions by the end of October. The remainder of the meeting schedule will be available in the next few weeks.