Former National Cattlemen’s Beef Association economist nominated as chief agricultural negotiator

Jun 20, 2017

Greggory Doud also helped draft the 2012 Farm Bill

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.om

President Trump nominated Greggory Doud, president of the Commodity Markets Council, to be the chief agricultural negotiator with the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

If chosen, Doud would also hold the rank of ambassador.

Doud served as the chief economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

He also served as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, helping draft the 2012 Farm Bill. Doud held positions with the U.S. Wheat Associated and World Perspectives firm, a Washington-based market consulting organization.

He is the right person for the job, according to his colleagues.

“Doud is a farm policy veteran with a wealth of experience and a solid understanding of the vital role trade plays in the U.S. agriculture economy,” John Heisdorffer, vice president of the American Soybean Association, said in a June 20 statement.

“Gregg was NCBA’s chief economist for eight years, and he understands as well as anybody the importance of exports for our industry,” Colin Woodall, senior vice president of government affairs for NCBA, said in a June 19 statement. “As important trade negotiations take place over NAFTA and hopefully a bilateral agreement with Japan, we look forward to working with Gregg and his team to ensure that the voice of American beef producers is heard loud and clear.”

As chief agricultural negotiator, Doud’s main responsibility would be to “conduct trade negotiations and to enforce trade agreements relating to United States agricultural products and services,” according to the United States Code.

Gregory Frazier, Allen Johnson, Richard Crowder, Dr. Islam Siddiqui and Darci Vetter have all held the position, which was created by the Trade and Development Act of 2000.

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.