Aug 31 2026 August 31, 2026 August 31, 2026 NoComment by Mike Callicrate

R-CALF USA Responds to Secretary Rollins’ Ranchers First Initiative

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R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America
Fighting for the Independent U.S. Cattle Producer
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By: R-CALF USA Communications Director Jaiden Moreland

Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard

Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa

View and share this news release on Facebook here and on X here, or view the web version here.

 
 
R-CALF USA Responds to Secretary Rollins’ Ranchers First Initiative
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BILLINGS, Mont., Aug. 31, 2026 — Today U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced her Ranchers First Initiative to Rebuild the Great American Beef Herd. The initiative builds on the Secretary’s October 2025 Plan to Fortify the American Beef Industry. The new announcement describes government programs to incentivize heifer replacement, assist in wildfire and other disaster event recoveries, support and strengthen small and regional slaughtering facilities, and support new farmers and ranchers. In addition, the announcement describes an effort to prioritize federal procurement of locally processed American beef by encouraging purchases by federal and state institutions.

Responding to the Secretary’s initiative, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement:

“Together, today’s and the earlier October initiative begin to address the symptomatic fallout from decades of failed trade and market protection policies, but fall short of reversing the underlying policies that caused the serious and ongoing erosion of the U.S. cattle industry.

“We recognize the Secretary’s initiatives as important steps toward reinforcing an ailing cattle industry against the policy‑driven forces that suppress marketplace competition, enable foreign capture of domestic supply chains, and erode market transparency—pressures that collectively undermine the confidence and long‑term viability of American ranchers.

“We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to reverse those policy-driven forces through such policy reforms as restoring mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, eliminating the beef packers’ anticompetitive buying practices, managing trade through effective import controls, and ending the massive beef checkoff program subsidy that perpetuates monopolistic control over America’s cattle industry.”
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Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only lobbying and trade association representing U.S. cattle producers. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or call 406-252-2516.