The National Cattlemen?s Beef Association?s new president is eager to get to work.
At the 2022 NCBA Convention in Houston, Texas, Don Schiefelbein took over as NCBA president. Schiefelbein and his family own and operate Schiefelbein Farms, a large diversified farming operation in Kimball, Minnesota. He says the biggest issue over the past year facing cattle producers was the uncertainty in the cattle markets, an issue that has carried over into 2022.
?Everybody can pinpoint the problem. There’s a lot of dollars in the beef industry, we’re not getting our fair share. But how you do it so it improves it is, that’s the million dollar question. There’s different debates on how much government you want and how little government you want and that’s where the debate is kind of settling out, if you will, is do we want to curb people’s economic independence. And I think, as we talk to lots of producers, it appears that economic independence is something they’re going to continue to strive for, And it looks like they’re not probably going to push real hard for a mandate.?
One of Schiefelbein?s goals as NCBA president is to open up dialogue between farmers on some of these issues.
?Once you get inside this thing, you realize how big a ship it is, and how many different sizes of players there are and how big this industry is. We just saw a study that said the beef industry marketing system is one of the most complex in the world. So, imagine everybody’s got their viewpoint, whether you’re from the northwest or the southeast, how this industry should run, but where we have to play the game is we kind of have to be the referee that says, what is the collective good for everybody? How do we drive this ship in a manner that doesn’t negatively impact everybody and pushes everybody in a positive direction.?
Schiefelbein and his wife of 27 years, Jennifer, have three daughters, Shelby, Abbey, and Bailee, all of whom are active in the industry.
