Don Butler has served as a trade adviser to presidents Reagan and George H. Bush, and as a leader and representative of several of the nation’s most influential agriculture organizations.
Now the veteran Tucson rancher is the executive director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture, the overseeing agency of the state’s $9.2 billion a year business of growing food and fiber put to use across the nation and the world.
But that summary fails to include the agency’s frontline duties of inspecting national and international shipments, protecting native plants and environments and influencing vital trade arrangements affecting Arizona’s farmers and cattleman.
Butler, the current owner of the Coronado Cattle Company in Tucson, recently invited the Arizona Capitol Times to his office to discuss his department, the beef business, industry dust-ups with animal-rights activists and the shortcomings of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
You’re a Tucson cattleman. How and why did you become involved with the public sector?
I’ve done a number of things through the livestock industry through various organizations, you might say, and also with exporting products to foreign countries. When this position became open, I had a number of industry people that I have dealt with over the years call and say ‘well, you better put your name in the hat.’ So, it was really the industry that got me here.
Did you ever think that you’d turn from rancher to the “government bureaucrat?”
No, not really. Way back I was interested in politics, but I gave that up because there were other things to do, like raise a family. And I don’t think my wife was too interested in doing the political deals.
Do you consider this a political job?
Well, it’s a political appointment; I’ll put it that way. But I am not looking at it politically. I’m a senior citizen, if you’ll pardon the expression, and I’m doing this because of agriculture.
One agricultural representative gave you, a cattleman, credit for quickly learning the details of the other side of Arizona’s food production — produce. Was this a challenge?
I lived in Yuma for 15 years, and we had a farm down there that we leased out because I was in livestock rather than produce. So I understood part of it. But there are great people in it (produce), great teachers. I think of the people all over the state that are in agriculture, cotton, produce or whatever it may be — and if I call them for information or help, they are more than willing.
What do you consider the role of director of agriculture to entail? Are you a regulator, or are you there to promote and protect these businesses?
I think a little of both. The department is a regulatory agency, but working with the industry — it’s got to work both ways. There are regulations that need to be adhered to, and there is a right way and a wrong way to go about talking to the industry so they understand and we can work together.
What are the biggest issues facing the Arizona farmer and rancher?
I think one of the issues — and I’m not an expert by any means — is the labor situation and the immigration situation. I think of the livestock industry and the battles they have ranching on the border. Agriculture isn’t an easy thing, and people don’t understand that. I heard a quote from somebody that said, ‘we don’t have to worry about it, we can get all the food we want at the supermarket.’ I got something on my desk, a little saying that says ‘don’t criticize agriculture with your mouth full.’ That about covers it.
What don’t people understand?
That you put a seed in the ground and the capital investment in it, and the time it takes. These people are in it for a profit, but they’re also in the industry because it is a way of life that they enjoy.
Do you think employer sanctions in Arizona could ultimately propel wider immigration reform?
Well, there is that and there is also a guest-worker program. I know that the governor has been backing it and she has certainly helped fight our battle. She has spoken to (Michael Chertoff, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security) and (Elaine Chow, U.S. Secretary of Labor). We’ve got to get the products off to the market, and everybody is complaining about the food prices going up. But if you can’t get all the food to the market, what does get there is going to cost more.
What is the extent of competition facing Arizona’s agricultural community?
That’s a tough one. In the livestock industry, they certainly face competition from other states. In produce, we work with the Californians because their season is summer and ours is fall and winter, so everything works pretty well. But competition, there is always going to be competition.
Some of your prior experience includes financially advising foreign and domestic interests about NAFTA. Is this agreement good for Arizona farming, ranching and textile interests?
Yeah, I worked more with the Mexicans to help them get some things going. That was quite a ways back and everything worked out pretty well. It was basically with Sonora, and our relationship with them is great. My counterparts down there; we get along. I think this situation that happened just three or four weeks ago, where the Mexicans and the Canadians reached an agreement to have breeding cattle go into Mexico. I know the Texas commissioner said there’d be no Canadian cattle going through our ports to go into Mexico, and we joined in with them and so did California and New Mexico.
Some of those ports are owned by Mexicans and they stood right with us because they want U.S. breeding cattle. So last week, the agreement was reached between the three countries and now we can do that, so it was a big boon. (NOTE: Butler is referring to Mexico’s rescinding of a five-year ban on U.S. cattle imports that was prompted by border states’ refusal to allow Canadian cattle to pass through their ports into Mexico.)
Is NAFTA a good thing for Arizona’s farmers and ranchers?
I think NAFTA has been good. I was involved with it when it was put together, and I know folks in the Midwest say there has been a loss of jobs, but new jobs have taken those places. So, I think it has been a good thing.
When you were working with people on NAFTA ,what sort of questions did you regularly hear?
Well, sanitary issues were reoccurring — making sure products going whichever way were healthy, that products that are coming in are harmonized with our regulations. It was fun.
There have been a lot of reports on the rising price of corn and its diversion for ethanol. What effect is this having?
Well, you’re seeing it in the marketplace with the costs of food going up. The cost of corn is going up, and cattlemen are losing anywhere from $200 to $250 a head because of the cost of feed. Everything has gone up — fuel, feed. Look at alfalfa hay, that’s gone way up. All the products that go into commercial cattle feeding have increased, and it’s a tough deal. People don’t realize the amount of capital investment that goes into an operation.
I go back to the education of agriculture. We have not done the job we should do of educating the public. When I first started work in Arizona, t
he Legislature was made up of agricultural people, and today there is only half-a-dozen. I understand that it’s the rural people that are running agriculture, and the urban people kind of miss that.
In 2006, Prop. 204, which banned the use of a certain crate to house pregnant hogs, passed by voters despite widespread opposition from the state’s agricultural community. Is this an industry that is losing clout?
I think probably so. It was outside money that came in to pass (Prop.) 204 and it was the same money from the same groups that want to see livestock off of federal land. Whether they’re vegetarians or animal-rightists or whatever, I think it happened in Florida and then it happened here. I think there is a real movement to have it happen everywhere, but as it does happen, food prices are going to rise everywhere.
Do you think the agriculture business and animal husbandry is under unfair scrutiny?
You know it takes only one bad apple in the barrel. That’s the one everybody sees. You take the situation in California with the inhumane treatment of cattle (Note: Butler is referring to California slaughterhouse where workers were caught by the Humane Society of the United States abusing sick or crippled cows). Videos of the abuse led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history.). I see it every day in the media about that outfit over there, and it’s too bad. I don’t condone it at all, but I do fault the Humane Society. They saw it, and the pictures were from October, and it was not until the first of the year when the pictures came out. Why didn’t they say something earlier? It continued for months.
Do conditions like that exist in Arizona?
No. We’re in pretty good shape. Sunland Beef is the one federally inspected plant here, and we’ve got three people out there on the line taking blood samples for the federal government. We keep our eyes open, and because of this thing in California, we’re walking on eggs.
How damaging is a report like that to the industry?
It’s damaging because it puts an onus on the whole industry and the USDA. People are going to back off, saying ‘we’re not going to eat meat because it is tainted or something.’ It’s trust. When the media does something like that…
The media didn’t do that.
No. But it’s a big thing, and you keep it on the front page. It deserves a thorough study, but then back off. I’m not trying to be critical, but you have these things like 204 on the front page and I saw the television ads that show a calf with a chain that you could chain a ship with it’s so big. That doesn’t happen (to calves).
But that’s not the media, that’s a group waging a campaign.
Exactly. They were setting it up and you go from there.
There is a proposal to shift the duties of the Structural Pest Control Commission and fold the body into your agency. There’s no secret that the agriculture community isn’t wild about the proposal. How did this become such a point of contention?
I guess the community feels the department is doing what it should do and it’s run efficiently and we all get along. I think with (SPCC) coming in with their history — and I’m not privy to all of it — but their history has not been the greatest. I think the aggies are concerned about it giving us a black eye. I’m an optimist, and I think we can make it work. I know we have Jack Peterson from the Environmental Services Division (of the Department of Agriculture) coming in, and he’s very competent and I’m sure it is going to be worked out. We’ve had a number of meetings with those people and Rep. (Rich) Crandall, who is ushering this thing. We’re going to make it work, and knowing Jack, you won’t see us in the headlines.
What are the immediate effects, and some of the long-term effects, do you think the budget shortfall will have on your department?
The budget isn’t settled yet, so I can’t even speculate on what is going to happen. We’ve got a hiring freeze and we have people that are retiring or going someplace else, and we can’t fill those positions. It’s tough to run an operation that has mandatory and statutory rules and regulations. How do you fill them when you haven’t got the personnel to do it? But I think the people that are here have been wonderful, and we’ll tighten the belt a little more and make more with less.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.