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NCBA official comments on shutdown

Mandatory reporting of livestock prices by the USDA has been suspended due to the government shutdown.  Colin Woodall of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says how much impact that will have on cattle producers is still not clear.

“That starts to bring into question what’s going to happen with cattle pricing mechanisms—what could this mean to the marketplace?  We don’t have a good handle on that yet,” Woodall says. “I think we’ll have to see just how long this shutdown stays in place and really try to get some good feedback from the countryside.”

Woodall is concerned that the shutdown and general stalemate in Congress means more delays in coming up with a new farm bill.

“I’m still optimistic, even with this shutdown, that we will get to that place,” he says, “but this does prolong the ability for Congress to actually come together and have a conference committee and start the real work it’s going to take to get to that final package.”

But Woodall says this shutdown may be “the death knell” for immigration reform.

“We may not see any further work on immigration either this year or even next year,” he says.

Woodall is vice president of government affairs for NCBA.

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