By Betty Jo Gigot Publisher
Well, the two feet of heavy, wet Colorado snow is gone from my balcony, and Martin Truex has run his last NASCAR race (on the pole) but was not the winner. Time to pick a new driver. By the time you read this we will know just how well Coach Deion Sanders did in putting a new football team together at University of Colorado (sorry Nebraska) and how nice it is that all the political ads have finally gone away. I know we all had a cheerful holiday season and now it’s time for us to celebrate our industry at CattleCon. Our charge is to make plans for the future on how to continue providing our safe, nutritious product to the world while remaining profitable.
For more than 60 years, CALF News has been providing you, our readers, with not only the news of the industry but also the faces of the industry through a multitude of political upheavals. Here we are again, looking to a new administration and making the adjustments necessary to remain relevant in a quickly changing atmosphere. Burt Rutherford provides an in-depth analysis of the leadership’s goals for that transition on page 12.
Our topic of consumer trends is top of the news in today’s world. Top in my mind is what used to be the USDA Food Pyramid, which has been replaced by My Plate. Their recommendations in the new version has brought strong criticism from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). Those recommendations include replacing beef with beans, peas and lentils. Labeled as impractical, elitist and dangerous by the association, NCBA noted that as red meat consumption has gone down for the past four decades, obesity and chronic disease have increased.
From a wider world view, experts seem to assume that beans, peas and lentils don’t utilize natural resources, too. Land, water and fertilizer don’t come cheap, and those crops are at risk every minute from Mother Nature. The assumption that, just because it’s a plant it doesn’t count in the scheme of things, shows either a lack of analysis or a bias against animal agriculture. Our industry utilizes land and green grass that has no other use in order to create high-quality protein – a necessary nutrient for life.
Along the same lines, the Colorado election was an interesting one on how groups look at issues differently, depending on where they live or what their motive might be. Or possibly what we vote on may be just the start of something bigger. We have always known when housing developments are built next to feedyards, dairies or even corn fields, agriculture eventually comes under fire. Odor, noise and different working hours cause difficulties. The reintroduction of wolves to Colorado was a case of romance for city dwellers (shades of Yellowstone) and short sightedness for the problems they cause for ranchers. Colorado’s population has changed since wolves roamed the range, and the rangeland in western Colorado is different from the Denver suburbs. Wolves will also eat poodles.
With all of the conflict on the wolf issue maybe a lesson was learned when the state voted on Proposition 127 that would have prohibited hunting of mountain lions, bobcats and lynx. Although urban voters voted for the issue, some 54 percent of voters voted to allow the Colorado Parks and Wildlife to decide on the balance of wildlife here in the state. A tremendous amount of money came in from outside the state, possibly looking for a way to move toward banning hunting in the state altogether.
The same could have been true with Ballot Measure 309 to close Superior Farms, a sheep processing plant on the edge of Denver. The outside funds there may have been hoping that closing one processing plant would have led to closing all processing plants in Colorado. Thankfully, that measure was also voted down.
Let’s look forward to fewer regulations, smart, thoughtful leaders and an appreciation for what we do for the country. We truly are the good guys.
