Convention Parting Thoughts and Reminders

Another Cattle Industry Convention has come and gone and hopefully you have found the information posted here valuable in helping understand the work of the Beef Board. This website has been documenting the activity of the organization on behalf of beef producers for going on five years now. You can quite literally scroll all the way back to the beginning if you click back at the bottom of each page. It’s kind of like an ongoing electronic newsletter in a way. Our goal has been to help make the work of the CBB as transparent as possible.

Here are some helpful reminders if you haven’t used the website before:

1. You can learn how to subscribe to the web site news feed on this page.

2. Every committee has its own page. You can find links to them on the Committees page. The committee pages contain agendas and minutes/reports from each meeting since we started this process.

3. All the stories posted are archived. You can sort them by month or category using the drop down links in the left sidebar.

4. There are many, many audio interviews throughout the stories posted that you can listen to, including all the way back to the beginning. They tell the story straight from the mouths of the Board members and those who have received project support from the organization. Feel free to give them a listen.

5. Comment Policy: Please feel free to share your comments ‐ Lively discussions and different opinions are encouraged within the bounds of respectful civil discourse. Comments are moderated and will not appear on the MBC Blog until they have been approved. Questionable language, personal attacks, off‐topic comments, and gratuitous links, however, will be either edited or deleted.

6. This blog does not represent official communications from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board or the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Thank you once again for allowing me to be your Beef Board Blogger. I hope to see you from the Summer Meeting later this year.

Voting For Priorities

After all the committees meet during convention the leaders got together for a special extra meeting to set their priorities. This was done via a wireless electronic process. You can see CBB Board member Robert Fountain, Jr. (Secretary/Treasurer) holding up his device before they got started.

I spoke about the process with Rick Husted who managed the session. He says that in the past the priority setting has happened in each of the committee meetings. This year they have evolved that process to bring all the committee leaders together in one session to set and rank priorities. This will be used to set the FY 2011 plan. You can learn more about the process by listening to Rick.

You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with Rick here:

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Working On Public Relations

Here’s a photo from the Join Veal Committee meeting which took place at the Cattle Industry Convention. I didn’t get to conduct an interview with anyone since they were still hard at it when I stopped by.

However, I did get to speak with Joyce Bupp, co-chair of the Joint Public Relations Subcommittee. Joyce says her committee takes a look at a lot of the media and outreach activities that are taking place throughout the organization. She says they had a very comprehensive look at the plans for the upcoming year. She says this is very important “. . . because if we don’t have consumer outreach and we don’t have consumer purchases we don’t have an industry.”

Here’s an excerpt from the report issued after the meeting:

The Subcommittee heard an update from Carol Abrahamzon of the American National Cattlewomen shared a report on the National Beef Ambassadors. The Metropolitan Cooking Show in DC with Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NBPI) reached more than 2,000 consumers with beef samples, recipes and brochures.

Sherry Hill of American National Cattlewomen provided an update on the National Beef Cook-Off (NBCO). A Raley’s promotion titled “Beef It Up” featured a sweepstakes contest over Labor Day. A Chef Challenge during the NBCO garnered six winning recipes featuring middle meats.

All committees of the Beef Board have their own web page and archived copies of agendas and minutes. You can find the Joint Public Relations Committee page here.

You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with Joyce here:

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Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Discussing Issues Managment

Much of the work done by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board is in committees. These meetings are open and as I’ve found over the years, a great learning experience to attend. If you want to really get to know how the checkoff works then get involved or just attend the meetings and listen in.

One of the meetings I stopped in at this year’s Cattle Industry Convention was the Joint Issues Management Subcommittee. I spoke with committee chair, Mike Stahly. Mike says the committee deals with the many issues facing the industry and that the checkoff does many surveys of consumers to learn what they think about the industry and the product. He says that one of the biggest issues is the activist groups that are telling tales about the industry that just aren’t factual.

Here’s an excerpt from the report issued after the meeting:

The Subcommittee heard highlights of 2009 fiscal year programs and an update on the 2010 fiscal year programs put into motion during Summer Conference. Some of the key activities for beef issues management closing out last year and so far this year include: a holistic photo project and Explore Beef brochure showcasing the people behind the product, a newly launched ExploreBeef.org Web site, redesign of the popular industry forecasting publication Beef Issues Quarterly, a moviemaking project to capture an inside look at the beef industry that’s appealing to Millennials, a U.S. Beef Stakeholder Responsibility Assessment and successes from the viral Give Thanks campaign.

All committees of the Beef Board have their own web page and archived copies of agendas and minutes. You can find the Joint Issues Management Committee page here.

You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with Mike here:

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Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year

The 2009 Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year is a big supporter of the National Beef Cook-Off and the Beef Board. She’s Linda Brake from Arizona. I spoke with her after the award was announced by the American National CattleWomen and she seemed a little overwhelmed by the honor.

Linda says she feels very “special.” She says it’s an honor to have been selected. In my interview with her you can listen to her describe her feelings and talk about the work she’s done.

You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with Linda here:

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Linda has been an active CattleWoman for 20 years. As an ANCW member, she has served on various committees and as the vice-chair and chairman of the National Beef Cook-Off (NBCO) Committee and co-chair of the 2001 NBCO. She has served as Secretary and President in the Santa Cruz CattleWomen and numerous positions at the state level including Arizona CattleWomen President in 1998. Linda has also served on a joint NCBA committee, is a member of the Arizona Beef Council and producer member of the Western Center for Risk Management Education.

The Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year Award is given to one cattlewoman each year that has excelled at continued beef promotion on the local, state, and national level, while contributing dedication, commitment and support to the American National CattleWomen, Inc.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album