Jon Wooster is the Cow Boss at the United States Cattlemen’s Association. One of the primary movers and shakers of that organization, he rounded up a few of his friends and traveled to Washington a few weeks ago. The point of the trip was to meet some of the people who make decisions that can be beneficial or seriously detrimental to the cattle business.
Sitting down and learning more about each other makes those decisions a little more meaningful. People inside the beltway need to meet folks in the out country; to put a face to ranchers and farmers and to understand what they need to prosper, Understanding the political and personal pressures that hammer down on the folks at the USDA gives the rest of us a better understanding, too, of why they make the decisions they do.
Even if both sides occasionally throw their hands up in frustration at the dastardly deed ‘that other guy’ just did.
The USCA seems to be especially well-qualified to take a message to Washington. It’s one group that hasn’t bought into today’s ugly politics of confrontation with a “go my way or you’re truly an un-American driving us all to damnation and ruination” attitude. They stand steadfastly as a group that says, “Come, let us reason together.”
In fact, when I tossed a few questions that were designed to pull out some controversial comments, he deftly passed. No, he wasn’t going to take that bait. He knew he had a job to do and he was just going to get on with it. As it says on the USCA web site about Jon Wooster, “When asked to take on the job, he pulled his hat down tight, put both feet in the stirrups and took a deep seat.. The rest is history in the makin’. Jon Wooster’s smilin’ eyes and strong handshake bespeak a man of experience, wisdom and calm, reasoned temperament. He’s as articulate as they come and he’s smart...very smart.”
Which means, more than any other man in a similar position, he’s one guy that I wouldn’t want to get cross ways with.
Q. Jon, the USCA fly in was partially recession driven, a chance for USCA members to bring their stories to Washington. Let’s talk about your travel companions on this trip. Who were they and why did they take this trip?
A. This fly-in brought members from across the country. They came from California to Virginia, from South Dakota to Texas, and included a contingent of the Midwest representing Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas. They were all cattlemen and cattlewomen. When discussing our priority issues, the range of regions that were represented brought a regional perspective to these discussions, and as such, our fly in was ultimately able to represent a majority of our members’ concerns.
Q. Would you share some of their stories -- their successes as well as their hardships?
A. Although we all come to DC from different geographical regions of the country and we represent different segments of the cattle industry, from cow-calf and stocker ranches to seedstock, livestock markets and feedlot operations, many of our concerns are similar. Whether it is the increasing cost of fuel, more burdensome government regulations, or animal health issues, we all share the common goal of working to put the cattle industry in the best position to move forward toward building sustainable operations for the future by ensuring we provide a safe product as well as being efficient and creating the best opportunities to market that product.
When we have a fly-in we really don’t concentrate on individual stories. We concentrate on the issues that are affecting a wide-ranging group of cattlemen. The fly-in was about going to D.C. with a set of priority issues that we felt needed to be addressed, even though times are tough and the USDA and Congress are swamped with a lot more problems than just ours. That being said, there are certain issues like COOL, Animal Disease Traceability, the effect of regionalization on FMD, and the control of TB and brucellosis that we need to continue addressing no matter what the state of the economy is. We want to make sure these issues are not overlooked during these tough economic times.
Q. There are a lot of changes going on at the USDA, one of your stops during your Washington visit... Who did you meet and what kinds of information did they share with your group?
A. First, I would like to say that it is very gratifying to go to the USDA as they give us the time we need in face-to-face meetings to really discuss what we perceive as problems within the industry as well as the opportunity to address possible solutions. In the past, we have left there with an entirely different understanding of the difficulties involved in achieving some of our goals, but we have always been treated with respect, and we find the Department of Agriculture to be very responsive not only when we are in DC but also when we return home.
That being said, we had a full day of meetings at USDA where officials were able to give us an overview of the current programs and efforts within the agency to promote stronger communities in rural America. Several officials talked to us about subjects as varied as Beef Checkoff enhancements and Beef Checkoff oversight, the regionalization plans in South America, Animal Disease Traceability (ADT), as well as various other issues.
Q. One of the bright spots in agriculture is a very favorable trade balance. Spending some time at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should have shed some light on what’s behind that success and what lies ahead. What did you learn during your visit?
A. The visit to the USTR office was very interesting. We were given an update on the challenge against the U.S. country of origin labeling (COOL) law taken place at the World Trade Organization (WTO). USCA continues to be engaged in the ongoing COOL defense. We are confident in the work that U.S. officials continue to carry out in defense of COOL. We remain optimistic about a successful outcome. This is one issue that USCA will not let up on, and we will be following up on this during our second fly-in taking place this summer.
Also of interest was the US involvement with the proposed TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership). This agreement includes the country of New Zealand. We encouraged USTR to address the trade distorting system that lies within the monopolistic dairy corporation known as Fonterra. This has positioned the New Zealand dairy industry to create a surge of cull cow beef on the U.S. market. This serious discrepancy needs to be addressed in further TPP discussions.
We also discussed the current trade status with countries including Mexico, Chile, Japan and South Korea to emerging markets such as China. The trade export report was very encouraging to the delegation, as it appears that we are on track for increased market access for U.S. beef.
Q. There were some important messages you wanted to take to Washington. What were they and how were they received?
A. I think one of the most important messages dealt with the current recession and how agriculture could be a major player in bringing this county back to a more positive and stable economic condition. To help us achieve that we are looking for some improvements in competition reform. We are looking for trading protocols for beef and beef products that are compliant with international standards. We are asking to not be over-regulated here at home by agencies like the EPA, and we are asking to be able to continue using our proven and safe production practices such as the continued use of antibiotics for our animals.
Q. I can’t let you go without bringing up GIPSA. Your group talked about it with Washington officials. What kind of feedback did you get?
A. While USCA agrees with the intent of the proposed rule, there are a few points on which we would like further clarification. We believe USDA has done a thorough job of gathering comments, both written and oral, at the various listening sessions that were held throughout the country this past year; and now they are in the process of reviewing these thousands of comments. Currently, we are standing in the same line as every other livestock organization, just waiting to see what changes are made to the proposed rule and getting ready to address any further concerns we may have. We remain steadfast in our opposition to attempts to defund the proposed GIPSA rule. Congress was favorable to this message, and we are optimistic that they will hold the line on enabling USDA to produce a final rule.
USCA visits USDA; (L-R) Jess Peterson, USDA APHIS Deputy Administrator Dr. John Clifford, USDA AMS Deputy Under Secretary John Ferrell, Jon Wooster, Justin Tupper, USDA GIPSA Administrator Dudley Butler, Kathy Waltmon, Allan Sents, Deanna Sents, USDA AMS Under Secretary Ed Avalos, Eddie Shelton, Debbie Shelton, Chris Abbott, Adam Redland, Destry Brown, Kelly Fogarty
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