NPPC Submits Testimony on Importance of U.S. Pork Trade

Jul 24, 2023

This week, NPPC and the Minnesota Pork Producers Association (MPPA) submitted testimony for the congressional record on the importance of trade to the U.S. pork industry. House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and panel member Rep. Michelle Fishbach (R-MN), who also serves on the committee’s Subcommittee on Trade, held a field hearing in Kimball, MN, to discuss “Trade in America: Agriculture and Critical Supply Chains.”

“Free and fair trade has helped the United States become an economic powerhouse,” said NPPC and MPPA in their testimony. To maintain that position, the country must expand trade in existing markets and open new markets, and it must resolve issues, including with supply chains, that could negatively affect the ability to trade.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.