Oklahoma Farm Report
NCBA President Buck Wehrbein Addresses Congress about Beef Industry Challenges
Feb. 28, 2025
Buck Wehrbein, a Nebraska cattleman, recently ascended to the role of NCBA president during CattleCon 2025. Wehrbein, with a 45-year career in the cattle feeding sector, brings decades of dedication to the industry and leadership experience to NCBA’s top leadership post, which served him well when he testified at the “Perspective from the Field Part 2” meeting on Capitol Hill this week.
Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays features comments from Wehrbein’s opening statement in today’s BeefBuzz.
After briefly introducing himself and NCBA, Wehrbein spoke on behalf of NCBA’s nationwide membership. He said, “Overall, I am pleased to report that the state of the cattle industry is strong. Strong cattle prices and beef demand have made the marketing environment for cattle better than virtually any time in the last five years. It is worth noting that these market improvements have occurred without any new legislation or regulation aimed at the cattle markets.”
Detailed that while there is reason for optimism, the continually rising cost of feed, fuel, and other essentials still pose a challenge for producers. He expressed hope that the new Trump administration would help mitigate those challenges.
He both touted the success of the beef checkoff to the assembly and defended its work, saying, “One of the most effective tools designed to put dollars back into the pockets of farmers and ranchers is the beef checkoff. This immensely popular program has come under fire from the animal rights industry and the fake farm groups they bankroll. The truth is that the beef checkoff works for producers, and it does all of this with the pooled resources of cattle producers across the country at zero cost to the taxpayer. The beef checkoff is the model, public-private partnership and NCBA urges Congress to reject measures aimed at dismantling it.”
He emphasized the importance of quickly adopting a farm bill, stating NCBA’s support of Chairman G.T. Thompson’s bipartisan legislation. Citing the limited time for opening statements, he referenced other issues addressed in his complete written testimony, which can be viewed here.
His closing statement was as follows:
“NCBA is ready to work alongside this committee, this administration, and anyone else to ensure the future of the cattle industry remains strong.”
During the Q&A session, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith asked Wehrbein about the death tax. He answered, “The way land is appreciated and the value of it, now, is a good thing for the owner of it, but when it changes hands at the owner’s death, they either have to sell or take great debt on it to pay the tax on it, so this is a huge issue. We were very pleased with what the Trump Administration did in its first term and we know that he wants to reauthorize the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – and maybe even improve on it – so even with the higher level that is in it now, that even needs to be more, so I couldn’t agree with you more that that is a big one for land owners. In agriculture, which is high volume, low margin, it is especially a hardship. We appreciate your concern, and we will be working closely with the administration toward that end.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well.