At last week’s Cattle Industry Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association released its policy priorities for 2018. The priorities center around five categories, including the 2018 Farm Bill, Trade and Market Access, Regulatory Reform, Antimicrobial Use, and Fake Meat. NCBA will be working to make sure the new farm bill includes funding for a Foot and Mouth vaccine bank. They also want to protect programs like EQIP and prevent market-disrupting policy like COOL. The regulatory-reform efforts will focus on finding a permanent solution to an electronic logging devices mandate, modernizing the Endangered Species Act, and replacing the 2015 Waters of the U.S. Rule. One of the newer priorities involves protecting the industry and consumers from fake meat and false labeling on products that don’t contain real beef. “With tax reform, regulatory rollbacks, and new access to the Chines market, we had some big victories in Washington last year,” says incoming NCBA President Kevin Kester of California, “but now is not the time to take a break. 2018 is going to see a mix of new and familiar challenges.”