The cattle industry continues its efforts to drum up support for the HELP Act.
The legislation aims to support livestock haulers by protecting drivers from what NCBA calls burdensome hours of service and electronic logging device mandates.
While NCBA says the act will support drivers, it also includes protections for the animals being transported.
According to Policy Division Chair Skye Krebs, “It’s an animal safety— health and safety issue. You get those animals on a truck, that truck needs to roll, and they need to get there. They can’t be stopping when they’re out of hours and having those livestock sit on those trucks, especially in your summer months and stuff. So, they need to get there. I mean the data shows that the livestock hauler safety record is the best of the industry— very, very few incidents. So, it’s an animal health and safety deal to get those animals where they need to be in the quickest amount of time.”
NCBA says that during the pandemic, haulers were granted additional flexibility on hours of service and electronic logging devices.
He says that proved livestock could be safely transported under those conditions.
U.S. agriculture entered the week with mixed signals as weather, logistics, and markets shaped early-year decisions. Here is a regional breakdown of domestic crop and livestock production for the week of Monday, Jan. 19, 2026.
January 19, 2026 11:40 AM
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RFD NEWS Correspondent Frank McCaffrey speaks with Texas’s Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez about USMCA renegotiation and its impact on U.S.–Mexico agriculture trade.
January 17, 2026 05:00 PM
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Rising rural business confidence supports local ag economies, but taxes and labor shortages remain key constraints.
January 17, 2026 02:00 PM
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CoBank Knowledge Exchange’s Jeff Johnston shares the group’s positive perspective on expanding data centers into rural areas and weighs the risks and rewards for those communities.
January 16, 2026 01:44 PM
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Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller joined us to discuss data center expansion, farmland preservation, rural economic impacts, and imminent cattle biosecurity concerns affecting agriculture today.
January 16, 2026 01:28 PM
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The Pennsylvania Farm Show continues through Saturday, wrapping up another successful year of celebrating agriculture in the Commonwealth.
January 16, 2026 01:26 PM
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