INVEST in America Act Passes the Senate

Aug 24, 2021

In a 69-30 vote, the U.S. Senate today passed the INVEST in America Act, which would allocate $1.2 trillion towards updating national infrastructure. The package would benefit family farmers and rural communities by improving roads and bridges, expanding broadband access, protecting watersheds, and building resilience to climate change.

Because rural areas are home to a disproportionate share of our country’s outdated infrastructure, National Farmers Union (NFU) has been pushing legislators to invest in modernization for many years. In response to the bill’s passage, the organization’s president, Rob Larew, issued the following statement:

“Family farmers depend on our roads and bridges to deliver their goods to market, our watersheds to grow their crops, and high-speed broadband to reach customers and access information about markets and the weather. But much of our infrastructure is crumbling – particularly in rural communities. Our dilapidated roads, weak internet connections, inadequate cybersecurity, poor drinking water, and outdated inland waterway system’s ports and dams are undermining residents’ physical safety and financial wellbeing, risks that will only grow with climate-related pressures.

Click here to see more...

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.