National Cattlemen

I am attending the National Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the Cattleman's Beef Board, the BCBA Trade Show, the American National Cattlewomen, the National Cattlemen's Foundation, and CattleFax all have meetings this week.

I am very pleased that the leaders of these organizations are all speaking of unity. Not just within the beef industry but within agriculture. Just as the Grange has been speaking of unity within agriculture for many years, it is great to hear other organizations articulating the goal of working together.

Lucinda Williams, Chairman, Cattlemen's Beef Board spoke about the three challenges she sees facing the beef industry and agriculture.

First, the reality of the knowledge of our customers must be faced. The average American is 3 generations removed from the farm according to Williams. Our challenge is to educate them about the realities of farm life, practices, and our positive interaction with the environment.

Second, our opposition has abundant resources. The huge amounts of money that many organizations raise creates a challenge for all in the Ag and Natural Resource community as we can not compete on a dollar for dollar basis.

Third, we are working with a media that is friendly towards anti-meat and anti-Ag organizations.

These three points of Williams are points that the Grange agrees with and many rural and farm based organizations have been speaking about.

It is a pleasure to see the energy level of the members of the Beef organization as high as ever. My experiences with them goes back to when I was the President of the Oregon State Grange and worked closely with the Oregon Cattlemen's Assoc. They earned my respect then and the current leadership at the National level continues that tradition.

I am looking forward to the next two days, meeting new friends, and making connections that will help both the beef industry, their organizations and members, and the Grange and our membership. In fact, I encourage all Grange members that are in the beef industry to check these folks out and consider joining them.

The Grange is not a competitor with these organizations, we are allies and the more members we share, and the more we talk the greater the unity we will create. In today's world, unity is strength. I will end with an invitation to the families that make their living in the beef industry, check out the Grange and find out what we will add to your life when you become part of our organization.