January 2025 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN 25 Benjamin traveled a great deal over the years, including many, many trips to North Platte, Kearney and particularly Lincoln and the NC office, and missed many birthdays, holidays and other special days back home in Lakeside. Being so isolated in Alliance and so far from Lincoln and the rest of the staff had it drawbacks, but “NC staff is like a family, so pretty much any time we were together, we were having a good time,” Benjamin says. Benjamin has also been the one constant NC representative in western Nebraska since she began in 2000. She maintains that having a 308-area code gave her a better connection to the producers in the western part of the state – she was one who understood their operations because she lived it every day. However, it was difficult to be in a different time zone than the majority of the state. “When you go back and forth across time zones three or four times a week, it gets a bit challenging,” Benjamin says. “You don’t get that time back, even if the clock changes.” Initially, she worked out of the Alliance office three days a week and managed that building as part of her duties. As her responsibilities and travel commitments grew, keeping the office open and the building in good working order became difficult and costly. Eventually, the difficult decision was made to sell the office and have Benjamin work out of her home office. It sold much quicker than anticipated, and Benjamin was tasked with sorting through an entire vault of photographs and documents from the past in less than six weeks. “Nebraska historian John Carter came to help, and it wasn’t long before we ran out of table space to sort through everything, so we started stacking them on the floor,” Benjamin recalls. “We carried more than 500 bags of trash out of that basement vault and then asked for local help in identifying the remaining photos. We had stacks of photos and documents covering the floor of the basement, and then one night we had a sewer back up that flooded the basement. We dried them out as best we could, but much Melody Benjamin gives a report to the NC Legislative Committee in 2007. Melody Benjamin is recognized as an NCBA Top Hand Membership recruiter in 2016. In 2021, Melody Benjamin testifies at the Unicameral for LB 572, a bill containing major reforms to the Nebraska Livestock Brand act, which was supported by NC. was lost. What we were able to salvage was given to local museums and the state historical society.” The biggest challenge she sees ahead for producers and NC members is the lack of connection that the general public has with agriculture. “Fewer and fewer people have any connection to agriculture, whether that is in the legislature or the public in general,” Benjamin says. “It’s not uncommon to have conversations about the economic impact that agriculture has on the state of Nebraska, but it is uncommon to have discussions that, without agriculture, where would your food come from?” Another challenge Benjamin sees is that people are less inclined to compromise and come together, even when they have different opinions. The divisiveness that has become pervasive in politics is now prevalent in most other areas, making In 2020, during the height of COVID-19, Melody Benjamin is recognized – virtually, of course – for 20 years of service to Nebraska Cattlemen by NC President Ken Herz. CONTINUED ON PAGE 27
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