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New cattlemen president eyes producer-advocates

By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

ASTORIA, Ill. — The new president of the National Beef Cattlemen’s Assoc. (NBCA), Steve Foglesong, is a central Illinois resident and the owner of Black Gold Ranch and feedlot near Astoria.

Foglesong was elected to succeed Gary Voogt as president during the NBCA’s annual meeting last month in San Antonio. He brings a long history of involvement with the Illinois Beef Assoc. and the NBCA, having served as membership chairman, Region 3 vice president and in various officer roles with the national organization.
Foglesong said he was honored to have the opportunity to act as a spokesman for U.S. cattle producers and interact with political officials in his role as the NBCA’s new spokesman-in-chief.

“I have been presented with the opportunity to get out and meet with the beef producers of this country and (help identify) the problems and challenges they have, and address them in order to get and keep some profitability in this business,” said Foglesong, whose 5,200-acre cattle operation consists of a cow-calf, stocker, feedlot and replacement heifer program.

“We will also oversee how our checkoff dollars, through the Federation of State Beef Councils, operate.”

Fighting off attacks

Foglesong, who earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Illinois, said the biggest challenge he will face during his tenure will be to create more “advocates for agriculture” out of ordinary farmers and ranchers.

“There are a lot of people in this country who do not know where their food comes from, how it is produced and why farmers and ranchers do what they do,” he said, pointing out recent “editorialized” print and television media reports hurtful to animal agriculturists as examples of the need for a back-to-the-drawing-board approach to educating the public about modern agriculture.
Fending off attacks on beef producers’ livelihoods from animal activist groups only fuels the need for more cattlemen to stand up and fight for their rights, he added. “We need to become a lot more active,” Foglesong said.

Aside from the fact that most of the public and many mainstream media outlets are ill-informed about ag practices, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are becoming less knowledgeable about the importance of farming as well, said the new NBCA chief.

“Our job as a trade association has changed ... to educate (lawmakers) about the most basic aspects of where their food comes from. Legislators in Washington no longer have agriculture backgrounds or educations. It’s disheartening to the 2 percent of us in this country that are involved with agriculture, and we don’t have a very big voting bloc,” Foglesong said.

Too much government

Impending U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations regarding dust and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are another related issue of concern to not only cattle producers but all farmers, according to Foglesong.

“When you start regulating (GHG) and dust emissions, there is not a farmer or rancher in the country that won’t be out of compliance, especially with the dust rule,” he said. “There are national parks where on any given day, the ambient dust particles are higher than allowed by that rule. Combines in the field in the spring will not be in compliance.

“Nobody has taken a scientific look at dust regulations. What are we going to do for food if we don’t allow some dust?”

Most farm operations will also be in violation of proposed GHG emission rules, Foglesong continued. “We’ve got to have some scientists with some common sense brought back into Washington, D.C., because they are certainly missing today,” he said.

Even if GHG and dust regulations are not approved by legislators, the EPA will likely “extend their authority and read into existing laws (to enact regulations), never taking the opportunity to put the issue in front of the people,” Foglesong predicted.

“We are under attack not only by (activists), but by our own government. It’s a never-ending battle against all these forces, and producers have to take it upon themselves to weigh into this fray and tell their story. Enough is enough.”

Setting sights high

Reopening export markets in southeastern Asia to U.S. beef products remains a high priority for the NBCA.

“We’ve been patient a long time,” said Foglesong. “The bans in southeast Asia are artificial food safety measures that have nothing to do with food safety and everything to do with trade barriers. We’ve got to get our folks in D.C. serious about this.

“If we can get the opportunity to trade on a level playing field, we’ll trade a lot of product in those markets.”

Though the newly-minted NBCA president is willing to take on hot-button issues such as EPA-mandated emissions, attacks on animal agriculture from all corners and sticky export trade barriers, Foglesong said the biggest impact he could have during his term would be to get more cattlemen to speak out for their industry.
“If I can somehow get more producers to react and weigh in on some of the stuff that’s going on in Washington, D.C., or to some of the misrepresentation of the beef and cattle industry (by media and others) by picking up the phone or writing a letter or otherwise taking it upon themselves to be advocates ...” he said. “Nobody knows the cattle business better than (cattlemen), and we need to get out there and be heard.”

Foglesong has raised four children with his wife, Linda, and enjoys working on enhancing the wildlife habitat on his ranch located in the heart of central Illinois’ “Spoon River Country,” in his spare time. In addition to his duties as NBCA president, he also participates in his county cattlemen’s association and extension.

3/17/2010