Time To Come Together, Work Together
Posted by Diane – July 1st, 2009
Dear Fellow Beef Producers, 
It’s time to get fired up for the 2009 Cattle Industry Summer Conference, which is on tap for July 14-18 in beautiful Denver, Colorado! It means so much to the industry that so many of you volunteer your time to attend this midyear conference and continue identifying ways to improve the demand for beef. In this age of quick and constant change, it is so important that we meet like this twice a year to make sure we work together to focus our limited checkoff resources on those programs which address our goals and have the best chance for improving profitability for producers and importers of all types of beef – be it from dairy or beef animals, conventional, grass-fed, or natural.
That’s where the beef checkoff comes in. Particularly in these times of economic challenge that we are all facing, I think we are fortunate to have a national self-help program that provides us with the resources we need to promote and improve our end product. That said, our checkoff budgetary challenges have been severe in recent years, with the recommended budget for Fiscal Year 2010 more than 22 percent below that of just three years ago.
More now than ever, we will be asked to think about the effectiveness of programs in meeting our goals while we consider checkoff program proposals for FY2010 during summer conference. We’re clearly faced with making tough decisions about effective programs that we can no longer afford to fund.
So as you attend your many meetings in Denver, or send comments from afar, ask the tough questions. Let’s make sure we are focusing our scarce resources on those programs that will make the most out of our checkoff dollars. Working together, we can continue to make the beef checkoff beneficial to the producers and importers who invest their hard-earned dollars in those programs. I am honored to be working with you all toward that end.
Sincerely,
Lucinda Williams
2009 Chairman, Cattlemen’s Beef Board
Hatfield, Massachusetts
2009 Summer Conference Highlights
Posted by Diane – July 1st, 2009
Organizations holding summer meetings during the conference include the CBB; the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA); the American National CattleWomen (ANCW); Cattle-Fax; and the National Cattlemen’s Foundation. General business kicks off with a Beef Industry General Session on Thursday, July 16, focused on current industry conditions and challenges. At the CBB Update Session that afternoon, CBB members will discuss current checkoff issues, including contracting budgets and updates on current USDA initiatives affecting the beef industry.
Preceding committee and subcommittee meetings, General Session II on Friday morning, July 17, will set the stage for this important day. Checkoff leadership will present the challenges and opportunities facing the beef industry in the coming year to prepare committee members for their review of project proposals for Fiscal Year 2010, so it is an important session for all joint committee members to attend.
By clicking on the “Committees” link at the top left of this meeting blog, you can access agendas for individual committee meetings — and then come back after the meetings for reports from them and, later, official minutes of the proceedings.
Checkoff Budget Recommendation
Posted by Diane – May 15th, 2009
At the end of a long three days of planning meetings, the Beef Promotion Operating Committee on May 14 recommended a $41.5 million national beef checkoff budget for Fiscal Year 2010, and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board Executive Committee ratified the recommendation. The budget is based on a recommendation earlier in the day from the industry’s Joint Budget Committee, which based its recommendation on projected checkoff revenue for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2009. Pictures are Beef Board Chariman Lucinda Williams and Secretary/Treasurer Tom Jones.
The budget recommendation must be approved by the full Beef Board and USDA before it is official. The Board vote will take place at the 2009 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in July and, if approved, heads to USDA. At this point, the budget recommendation is broken down by components including promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing, producer communications, evaluation, administration, USDA oversight, and program development. It does not, however, include specific program proposals for the year, as that will be determined based on proposals that national beef organizations will present to the Operating Committee in September.As recommended by the three committees this week, the bulk of the national beef checkoff budget for FY2010 - about $39.5 million - would be invested in checkoff programs, as follows:
- $18.1 million for promotion, including things such as advertising, foodservice, retail and veal promotion, and new-product development.
- $6.2 million for research programs, including beef safety, product enhancement, nutrition research, and market research.
- $4.7 million for consumer-information programs, which includes consumer public relations, youth education and information, and nutrition influencers outreach.
- $2.9 million for industry-information programs, including beef and veal quality assurance and issues management.
- $5.3 million for foreign marketing, including promotion programs across the globe.
- $1.8 million for producer communications, including trade advertising, media relations, and direct communications to producers about the results of their checkoff investments.
In addition to the program budget, additional costs include $220,000 for evaluation of checkoff programs; $130,000 for program development; $255,000 for USDA oversight; and $2 million for administration, which includes costs for all Board and committee meetings, as well as office rental, supplies and equipment, and salaries.
Checkoff Planning Meetings Under Way
Posted by Diane – May 12th, 2009
State and national beef checkoff representatives are in Denver this week to recommend a budget for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009, and to begin making program plans for the coming year.
State Beef Council execs are meeting with representatives of the Federation Division of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) to discuss Federation planning efforts today. Beginning tomorrow, May 13, producers who volunteer service on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and Federation of State Beef Councils board in chairman and vice chairman capacities on joint checkoff committees will meet to discuss planning priorities set by committees at the 2009 Cattle Industry Annual Convention. They will discuss the current market environment and its implications for the beef industry and will, in the end, direct checkoff staff as to how to prioritize programming requests before submitting proposals for FY2010 funding to the joint committees at the summer conference in July.
On Thursday morning, May 14, the Joint Budget Committee will develop a checkoff budget for FY2010, based on estimated revenues from the Beef Board and the Federation and will review program and operating budget expenses for the current year. That committee will then establish a budget recommendation for allocation of checkoff funds by budget component, which will be forwarded to the Beef Promotion Operating Committee for its consideration. The Operating Committee will review the budget committee’s recommendation on Thursday afternoon, then forward that recommendation to the full Beef Board for consideration at the 2009 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver July 14-18.
Also this week in Denver, the Beef Board Executive Committee will hold a meeting on Thursday afternoon to review the Operating Committee report, as well as state marketing plans, state audit reports, brand and trade name references, producer communications efforts, and the latest financial report for the national program.
For a copy of the Operating Committee agenda, click HERE, and for the Executive Committee agenda, click HERE.
Getting Oriented In Tough Times
Posted by Diane – March 20th, 2009
The 2009 Beef Promotion Operating Committee met in Kansas City this week, with plenty on their plate. For starters, staff and producer leadership took new Operating Committee members through rules and procedures and an explanation of the checkoff’s planning and budget-development process. Craig Shackelford from USDA gave an overview of USDA’s role in overseeing the checkoff program and spoke specifically about the role of Operating Committee members.
This year’s Operating Committee includes the following representatives from the Beef Board and the Federation of State Beef Councils:
Beef Board Chairman Lucinda Williams chairs the committee: Other Beef Board members serving on it include: CBB Vice Chairman Dan Dierschke, Texas; CBB Secretary/Treasurer Tom Jones, Arkansas; Jerry Bohn, Kansas; Merrill Karlen, South Dakota; Chuck Kiker III, Texas; Ad Pedigo, Kentucky; John Schafer, Minnesota; Don Stewart, Importer; and Roger West, Florida.
Federation Chairman JD Alexander serves as vice chair of the committee: Other Federation members serving on it include: Chuck Adami, Wisconsin; David Dick, Missouri; Scott George, Wyoming; Dave Hamilton, Nebraska; Tammy Ogilvie, New Mexico; Linda Joy Stovall, Texas; Craig Uden, Nebraska; Beck Walth, South Dakota; and Helen Wiese, Iowa.
Following the introduction and orientation, Operating Committee members heard a financial report from Secretary/Treasurer Tom Jones, reminding them of the tightened checkoff budget in 2009. Further discussion ensued about the market conditions of middle meats following a market update from Kevin Good of Cattle-Fax.
During the March 18-19 meeting, Operating Committee members also discussed global beef promotion opportunities as highlighted in a foreign-market update from the U.S. Meat Export Federation and in discussions about the checkoff’s priorities and planning process for Fiscal 2010, when budget numbers are expected to remain down. In fact, virtually all discussions about the checkoff came back to its financial challenges - doing more with fewer dollars and continuously evaluating checkoff programs to assure that every dollar is being invested in as efficient a manner as possible given budget contraints and changing market conditions.
Operating, Executive Committees Meet March 18-19
Posted by Diane – March 3rd, 2009
The next meetings of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee and the CBB Executive Committee are slated for March 18-19 in Kansas City, Mo.
The Operating Committee convenes at 3 p.m. on Wed., March 18 with the introduction and seating of newly elected Operating Committee members, followed by the financial report and update on Evaluation Committee activities. The meeting continues on Thursday, March 19 with the presentation of extension requests (if any), presentation of Authorization Requests and Amendments (if any), a foreign-marketing update and a review of fiscal year 2010 planning priorities.
The Executive Committee meeting begins immediately upon conclusion of the Operating Committee meeting on Thursday, with an orientation for new Executive Committee members, followed by a financial report, Operating Committee Report and status of state marketing plans and audit reports. The meeting also includes a producer communications update.
All meetings of the Beef Board are open to the public.
Future meeting dates for the Operating Committee are May 14 and September 15-16, in Denver. The Executive Committee is slated to meet on May 15, July 15, and Sept. 16, all in Denver.
Convention Evaluation Form
Posted by Diane – February 6th, 2009
Thank you to all who attended this year’s convention and participated in our meetings. To help us in our evaluation of the event and for future planning, please take a moment to fill out and return our evaluation form.
You can download the form from this link: Evaluation Form (Word file)
Cattle Industry Convention Concludes
Posted by chuck – January 31st, 2009
The CBB portion of the 2009 Cattle Industry Convention has concluded. The new officers include Lucinda Williams, Chairman, Dan Dierschke, Vice Chairman and Tom Jones, Secretary/Treasurer. For more information, go to http://www.beefboard.org/news/09_0204_News_NewLeadership.asp.
Please remember that besides scrolling down through these posts here on the home page where you can see pictures and listen to interviews and presentations, you will find individual committee pages through the Committees link on the left side of the page. On them will be the meeting agendas as well as minutes from the meetings.
It has been my pleasure to serve once again as your Beef Board Blogger and I hope to see you again this summer.
Dairy Farmer is New Chair of CBB
Posted by chuck – January 31st, 2009
The new Chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board is Lucinda Williams and I think I was the first to conduct an interview with her. Here’s some background information so you can get to know her better.
Lucinda’s roots to the beef industry date back to life growing up as the daughter of a Colorado cowboy and rancher. Lucinda’s father raised cattle in Holly, Colo., and also grew sugar beets. Early in her parents’ marriage, they made the choice to put farming on hold for a while and go back to school. Her father got involved with the Extension Service and never did make it back to the land full time. Instead, he became a professor and worked for the extension service. They lived in Virginia until Lucinda was a teen, at which time they moved to Massachusetts and their current home of Hatfield. “Even though we didn’t live on a farm, we still had a 5-acre garden,” jokes Lucinda.
After moving to Massachusetts, the first family to invite them to dinner was the Williams family who had a dairy farm in town. That’s how she met Darryl and 25 years of marriage later, she would pick him again. At the time, she thought that she was marrying a teacher but soon after their engagement, Darryl realized teaching just wasn’t for him – agriculture was in his blood – he had to give back to the land.
So Lucinda was the one to return to the farm. Darryl is the 12th generation on their land, which came down through his mother’s family. Over the years, the land has been used for a sheep operation, onions, tobacco and cucumbers. It was Darryl’s father who married into the family and introduced dairy.
“Dairy farming is hard. You don’t go into it for the time off or the money, you do it because you love the animals and the lifestyle,” says Lucinda. “There was never any pressure from family for us to take over the farm. It came down to our love for farming and that outweighed all else. It’s still quite evident it’s a family trait: Darryl’s dad still helps with chores and plants corn, while his mom still does the daily feeding of calves in the morning.”
Lucinda and Darryl milk 100 cows with a total of 200 animals with replacements. They crop 250 acres (own 180, rent the rest), raising corn, alfalfa and hay. In her part of the country, farmland is small and spread out with their biggest field sizing in at just 22 acres.
“The reality is, even though we live in a quiet, rural town,” continues Lucinda, “we farm on a residential street.”
You can listen to my interview with Lucinda here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Lucinda Williams Interview (mp3)
Tom Ramey Management Report
Posted by chuck – January 31st, 2009
Our CBB CEO, Tom Ramey, gave his Management Report at the annual meeting.
Tom talked about the strengths of the Checkoff and the industry as well as the challenging times that exist now and lie ahead.
Tom also called former NCBA CEO, Terry Stokes, to the podium to thank him for all his support of the Checkoff during his time as leader of the organization.
You can listen to Tom’s report here:
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You can also download his report with this link: Tom Ramey Managent Report (mp3)
Annual Meeting Reports
Posted by chuck – January 31st, 2009
We get to see Dave Bateman at the podium one last time as the Chairman of the Beef Board this morning at the combined annual meeting of the Beef Board and NCBA.
Dave presided over the CBB portion of the meeting and various committee reports.
Those reports include: Operation Committee, Joint Evaluation Committee, Joint Research, Education and Innovation Group, Joint Public Opinion and Issues Management Group, Joint Global Consumer Marketing Group and the Joint Producer Communications Committee.
You can listen to the committee reports here:
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You can also download them with this link: Committee Reports (mp3)
The Dave Bateman Show
Posted by chuck – January 30th, 2009
It’s pretty much certain that your last dinner as CBB Chairman is going to be a memorable one. It was tonight for Dave Bateman.
Dave received some special gifts like a hat with an arrow through it since he’s been a target of sorts during his tenure and two different coffee mugs for the coffee-lover in him. Both mugs are huge.
And since Dave is also a pastor, CBB Operations Manager Charlotte Coates made him a stole, which has checkoff logos on it.
Several people shared their thoughts and memories of working with Dave on the Board. Vice Chairman Lucinda Williams had collected a series of “Davisms” during the past year. These are Dave Sayings. She actually compiled a top 15 list.
You can listen to the top 15 Davisms here:
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You can also download them with this link: Top 15 Davisms (mp3)
New Board Members Jump Right In
Posted by chuck – January 30th, 2009
One of the new Beef Board members is Phyllis Snyder from Colorado. She was just sworn in and went to work immediately in committee meetings today.
I found her after the Producer Communications Committee adjourned this afternoon. She told me a little bit about her operation and why she got involved. She says she’s always been interested in ag promotion of all kinds and has been very involved in Colorado Farm Bureau which nominated her. Phyllis is serving on this committee because she knows that it’s the producers who have first responsibility for quality and communications is an important element of that.
You can listen to my interview with Phyllis here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Phyllis Snyder Interview (mp3)
Checkoff Change Recommendations Pass Board
Posted by chuck – January 30th, 2009
Our Chairman, Dave Bateman, had his work cut out for him at the CBB Update Session. The primary focus of the meeting this year was to discuss and vote on recommendations to change the Beef Checkoff.
As you’ll hear Dave explain in my interview with him about the results of the meeting, the Board involved a lot of people and organizations in the process of creating the recommendations. Besides written comments from hundreds of entities, Board members met personally with a number of the national organizations to solicit input. The Admin Subcommittee collected all this information and created a document which the Executive Committee refined and presented to the whole Board at the session.
After a lot of discussion from Board members and other interested parties who attended the session, the recommendations passed with one amendment. The recommendations will now be forwarded to the Secretary of Agriculture. At that point it will be up to the Secretary and the industry to move the process for change forward.
You can find the original recommendations document (without yesterday’s amendment) with this link (pdf).
You can listen to my interview with Dave here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Dave Bateman Interview (mp3)
Dairy and Beef Need to Work Together
Posted by chuck – January 30th, 2009
The third presenter at the Dairy Producer Forum here at the Cattle Industry Convention was Tom Fuhrmann, DairyWorks.
Tom started out asking how many attending were full time beef, dairy, or both. It looked like we had a pretty good mix of attendees. He spoke about the cull cow and the quality of the cull cow that goes to market. He also addressed the need to see a reduction in the dairy herd. He said that there needs to be an acknowledgment and agreement between dairy and beef on what needs to be done.
You can listen to Tom’s presentation here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Tom Fuhrmann Presentation (mp3)
BQA Helps Dairy Farmer
Posted by chuck – January 30th, 2009
Jim Docheff, dairy producer from Colorado is a BQA Award winner and spoke at the Dairy Producer Forum.
Jim talks about how he has taken the BQA program to heart and implemented numerous changes in the way he runs his dairy. He says he was in an early DairyWorks class and it intrigued him since the theme was about organizing your work. He says it helped him immensely. He says he got involved in BQA about 6 to 7 years ago. He commented that every dairy cow on his farm will eventually become a beef cow. BQA has helped him plan ahead for that time to make it a more profitable experience.
You can listen to Jim’s presentation here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Jim Docheff Presentation (mp3)
Presenting Dairy Cow Numbers
Posted by chuck – January 30th, 2009
The annual Dairy Producer Forum was well attended this year at the Cattle Industry Convention.
Kevin Good, CattleFax, presented an economic report. In it he talks about the importance of dairy breeds to beef production and the size of herds and the trends for dairy cattle numbers including changes around the country on a regional basis.
He talks about how 2008 was another expansion year in the dairy business but that he doesn’t think the 5-year trend will continue. He also addresses the need to reduce dairy cow numbers.
You can listen to Kevin’s presentation here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Kevin Good Presentation (mp3)
Meet Your Beef Ambassadors
Posted by chuck – January 29th, 2009
Your National Beef Ambassador team was on location here at the convention today. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to meet them but these young representatives of the beef industry are passionate about it and ready to travel the country promoting beef.
I spoke with all of them at once in the same interview. You’ll get to hear a little about each of them personally and then learn what motivated them to become Ambassadors. They also talk about all the places they’ll be traveling to during the coming year after they leave here.
You can listen to my interview with the new Ambassador Team here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Beef Ambassadors Interview (mp3)
Beef Board Staff Has Its Work Cut Out For It
Posted by chuck – January 29th, 2009
The Beef Board is facing some challenges this year with the economy and its impact on Beef Checkoff revenue but the man who leads the staff is up to it. He’s Tom Ramey, seen here actively involved in one of the many committee meetings taking place at the annual convention.
Tom says that at this meeting a primary focus is for the Board to give the staff the priorities that they should be working on in the coming fiscal year. Tom says that the projected revenue shortfall and direction from the Board to make cuts in programs now means the staff will be working over the next couple weeks to determine just where they can make those cuts.
You can listen to my interview with Tom here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Tom Ramey Interview (mp3)
Equal Opportunites for Beef and Dairy
Posted by chuck – January 29th, 2009
Lucinda Williams is the Vice Chairman of the Beef Board and nominated to become the next Chairman. I was able to speak with her in the media room during a break in her meeting commitments and asked her what some of her objectives will be during the next year.
She says she’s excited about the opportunity to continue to work on behalf of beef producers and says that there are certainly some challenges like the budget situation. As a dairy producer Lucinda says there are some serious challenges there with prices being so low and projections not looking good. She thinks this provides a great opportunity though for beef and dairy producers to work together for the benefit of each segment of the industry.
You can listen to my interview with Lucinda here:
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You can also download the interview with this link: Lucinda Williams Interview (mp3)
