The 2026 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show is February 3-5 in Nashville, Tennessee. State cattle organizations will work together on policy discussions for 2026, and one of them is the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. Ben Weinheimer, the president and CEO, said shaping policy positions takes a lot of discussion.
“We’ll have quite a few discussions on policy-related issues. That is a big policy-level discussion for us, where all the state associations bring forward different ideas on things that need to be addressed in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association policy book. So, we’ll talk about a variety of things, lots of government-related program acronyms that many of us are accustomed to talking about, everything from the Conservation Reserve Program, on what can be done to incentivize grazing of those acres as those CRP acres come out of contract. We’ll talk some about the livestock risk protection program, potential additions and improvements to that. That’s been a good risk management tool that’s been available to a lot of folks throughout the country.”
Accurate and timely market data will be another important topic.
We’ll visit a little bit about the livestock market reporting system and the market news division of the Ag Marketing Service of USDA, and look for some potential changes there that can, again, help us to ensure that we’re getting good market data and market reporting across the board. So, of course, a big part of the annual convention also focuses on the work of the Cattleman’s Beef Board and the Beef Checkoff. A lot to celebrate when it comes to the Beef Checkoff. This is the 40th anniversary of the checkoff, if you can believe that it’s been in place that long.”
There’s a lot to celebrate when it comes to the Beef Checkoff.
“The success is demonstrated through what we’re seeing today. It’s been around for 40 years, and we’re currently experiencing a 40-year-high in beef demand, and all that collective work of research and promotion and improvement of the quality of the cattle that we produce, and sending that market signal of preference for more prime and choice beef, sending that signal all the way back to the front of the supply chain to give folks at the ranch level an opportunity to look at their genetic programs and figure out how they can contribute. And that continues to be done today, but it’s clearly been demonstrated over the past 40 years that that feedback mechanism has been very successful.”