NPPC Backs Efforts To Revitalize Rural America

The Trump administration today unveiled its blueprint for spurring rural development and prosperity, which includes efforts supported by the National Pork Producers Council.

 

Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville, the president revealed recommendations from his Ag and Rural Prosperity Task Force, including ones addressing the agricultural labor shortage, expanded broadband access for rural areas and regulations that have put a damper on the farm economy.

 

“Addressing workforce issues and federal rules and maintaining export markets, coupled with the recently approved tax cuts, will help revitalize rural America,” said NPPC President Ken Maschhoff, a pork producer from Carlyle, Ill. “President Trump, Agriculture Secretary Perdue and the team at the White House National Economic Council are to be commended for putting together a plan that will aid farmers and ranchers.”

 

The task force recommendations are in line with the priorities of the U.S. pork industry, which has been urging the administration to ease the regulatory burden on agriculture and business, to reform the U.S. visa system to make it easier to hire foreign workers and to maintain access to important export markets, including Canada, Mexico and South Korea.

 

The White House already has taken steps to help the heartland, announcing last June that it would rescind the Waters of the United States rule, which would have given the government broad jurisdiction over waters and lands; abandoning a proposal related to the buying and selling of livestock; and indicating last week that it would take a more-reasoned approach to applying an animal feed regulation to private mills.

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.