EPA has recently released further amendments concerning Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) guidelines that, while a step in the right direction, still leave much to be desired by ag industry stakeholders.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council launched a grassroots campaign opposing the new BLM conservation rule, as it has the potential to limit access to grazing on public lands and set the doors open for radical environmentalists, against the ranching community, to advance their agendas.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Todd Wilkinson testified in a hearing titled “A Review of Animal Agriculture Stakeholder Priorities” on May 17. He spoke on the current state of the cattle industry and priorities the NCBA intends to focus on during the 118th Congress.

The decision released May 25 and written by Justice Samuel Alito halted the agency’s authority under the CWA to regulate “navigable waters of the U.S.” in a fashion that applies authority and penalties on all wetlands near bodies of water, even those indistinguishable from regular geographic land.

If passed, the DIRECT Act would allow for beef, pork and poultry producers to sell their products through e-commerce across state lines – without the current regulation of going through a USDA-inspected facility. Instead, the act would only require producers to follow state inspection programs.

The U.S. Department of the Interior on March 30 published a proposal that could shift priorities on 245 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The rule would likely mark a sizable shift in BLM practices; according to an agency statement, it intends to put “conservation on equal footing with other uses,” which it says is “consistent with the BLM’s multiple use and sustained yield mission.”

Policymakers need to understand the role multi-plant coordination plays in the fed cattle market as they consider policies aimed at increasing negotiated trade with the hope of improving price discovery.

The Biden administration’s controversial new Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, initially issued on Dec. 30, 2022, went into effect throughout most of the country on March 30.

The Biden administration issued a water law reversal on the last working day of the year, thus creating more uncertainty in the longstanding issue of how to define navigable waters of the U.S., including streams, runoff and ponds used in agriculture.