Board Meeting

The last activity that took place at the conference was the board meeting. Here are a couple of the officers talking with CBB CEO Tom Ramey as they are getting ready for their reports. I’ve got a couple of the reports from Beef Board officers for you. They include the financial report by Sec./Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. and the operating committee report by Chairman Dan Dierschke.

You can listen to and download (mp3) the financial report here:

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You can listen to and download (mp3) the operating committee report here:

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Get Your MBA And Agvocate

If you haven’t obtained your Masters of Beef Advocacy diploma yet, what are you waiting for? This Checkoff funded program can be completed online and according to the Dean of the program, Daren Williams, NCBA, over 1,500 beef producers have done so ranging in age from 8 to 80 yrs. old! This is a photo of Daren from our media reception. Here’s what the MBA program is all about:

. . . equipping beef producers across the country to tell their story in presentations to schools and church/civic groups, through local media and in the “virtual” world of the Internet.

Sound like something you want to or should do? Then get started by filling out the online application.

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

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National Beef Ambassadors Update

We didn’t have an official National Beef Ambassadors Update on the conference schedule although that might be an interesting session. However, I did meet with three of our team in the media room to find out what they’ve been up to and where they’re going next.

Pictured (l-r) are Becky Vraspir, Malorie Bankhead and Jackson Alexander. Each of these outstanding young evangelists for the beef industry have been very active speaking out at various meetings and conferences. Here at the conference they came in early to tour the NCBA and CBB offices where they got some additional training. It’s great to see them here since I’ve just got a feeling that you’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the future.

You can follow the National Beef Ambassadors on their website, blog, facebook page and Twitter.

You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with the Beef Ambassadors here:

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Joint Producer Communications Committee

The final day of the Cattle Industry Summer Conference starts out with lots of committee meetings. I wandered around and visited some of them including the Joint Producer Communications Committee which is chaired by Wesley Grau, New Mexico.

Wesley says they work on communicating with the producers who pay into the Checkoff about how their investment is being used. He says a main focus has been on MyBeefCheckoff.com and a booklet that tells the real beef story. Copies of it are available for state organizations and livestock markets. The budget has declined but he says they will continue to tell the Checkoff story to producers. He’s also happy to report that the latest producer attitude survey shows approval of the Checkoff at an all time high.

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

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Correcting Some Myths About Compliance Audit

Beef Board Secretary/Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. took a few moments at the CBB Update Session to correct a few myths he has heard since getting to Denver for the conference.

The myths include:
“No guidelines exist to guide contractor’s expenditures of Checkoff funds.”
“Out of a potential pool of $115 million dollars this audit can only result in $25 thousand dollars of adjustments.”
“Inconclusive findings don’t really count.”
“NCBA wasn’t given an opportunity to read the report and respond.”
“CBB shouldn’t have released the report to the public.”
“CBB doesn’t use an outside auditor for other contractors.”

You can listen to and download (mp3) the myth corrections here:

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CBB Update Session

The CBB Update Session was standing room only today. It also went over on time but there were some serious issues being discussed. This session is an official meeting of the Beef Board at which they take action as needed on issues that come before them. There were several today.

As I have done in previous year’s, I’m going to post some of the remarks made from the podium for you to hear. First I’ve got the financial report that was presented by Secretary/Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. The board is facing reduced revenues. He reported that the 2011 budget has declined by 24 percent since 2007.

You can listen to and download (mp3) the financial report here:

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Next up is the management report by CBB CEO Tom Ramey. In light of the budget restrictions he told the board that they must monitor and safe guard funds and spend them as wisely and effectively as possible to achieve their goals.

You can listen to and download (mp3) the financial report here:

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New Board Member

I’m continuing our meet new board members series with Genevieve Lyons, Louisiana. She says they have a commercial cow/calf operation and were in the dairy business for many years previously.

She says her husband served on the board and she was nominated by Louisiana Cattlewomen and dairy farmers. She’s serving on the Public Opinion and Issues Management Committee. Like all other board members I’ve spoken with she highly recommends that other producers get involved.

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

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New Board Member

Let’s meet one of our new Beef Board members. He’s J. Craig Kesler, South Carolina. Craig has a dairy farm of Jersey cattle and a cow/calf operation.

He says he was motivated to get involved was that you “have to step forward as a farmer and make your voice heard.” He’s serving on the Advertising Committee. Craig says to other producers, “Get involved.”

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

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Urging Other Producers To Get Involved

During a break in the action at the conference I spoke with Beef Board member Ted Greidanus. Ted raises Holstein bull calves. He says being on the Board on has been a good experience and he feels honored to be on the Operating Committee.

He says that with budget constraints it’s important to make sure they get the biggest bang for the buck for producers to promote beef. He urges all producers to get involved.

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

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Ready For Update Session

The Vice Chairman of the Beef Board is Tom Jones (left) seen making points with incoming Board member Kevin Frankenbach and others during the new members lunch yesterday. I asked Tom what he was going to report to the Board during today’s CBB Update Session.

Tom says the Update Session is an official meeting of the Board and there will be reports on issues like the separation of the Federation, the compliance audit, recommendations from the Executive Committee which he chairs and others. It provides an opportunity for discussion. He said the Executive Committee meeting yesterday was a good one and interestingly when he asked the room if anyone had any questions before they adjourned, no one spoke up. Hopefully, they will today in the Update Session.

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

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Financial Report

Our Secretary/Treasurer is Robert Fountain, Jr. pictured here with Charlotte Coates, CBB Operations Manager. He’s giving a very detailed financial report at today’s CBB Update Session.

I spoke to him to get a summary of what his report will be like. To start with he says revenue will continue to be tight due to a decline in cattle numbers. It means that many programs have had to reduce their budgets and come up with very strong justifications for funding them. Robert says that there is room for optimism though as cattle prices have been good.

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

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Board Members From Missouri

Here are two of our Beef Board members discussing business in between meetings. On the left is O.D. Cope, Missouri with incoming Board member Kevin Frankenbach, also from Missouri.

I spoke to O.D. about why he’s involved and he says “The beef industry is my bread and butter.” I also asked him why other producers should do the same. He says it’s very important for them to see how their money is being spent.

You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with O.D. here:

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Prior to this week’s meeting I had interviewed Kevin about his first time attendance and his first meeting as a Beef Board member so I thought I’d add that for you to hear. Kevin is a dairy producer and is currently also serving on the Missouri Beef Industry Council. He’s been appointed to the Culinary and New Product Development Committee. He says his work on the MBIC has helped prepare him to serve on the national board.

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

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New Board Member

I’m getting to meet a number of our new Beef Board members. One of them is Spencer Ellis, Lovell, WY.

Spencer has a cow/calf operation and small feedlot. He is currently serving as Chairman of the Wyoming Beef Council. He’s “pretty adamant on how important it is to keep this industry going for youth and future generations.” He can’t emphasize enough how important it is for beef producers to get involved.

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

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Beef Board Chairman Is Focused

The Chairman of the Beef Board is Dan Dierschke (pictured left). He welcomed new members of the Board at a luncheon for them to get to know each other. Experienced Board members are assigned as mentors to new members and they were there too.

After the meal I spoke with Dan about this year’s summer meeting. He says the most significant aspect of the meeting is bringing together producers from around the country who pay into the Checkoff to determine the most effective utilization of the limited resources available to increase profitability for the industry. The decline in the cattle herd has put real pressure on Checkoff revenues. He says, “Whatever it is we do we want to increase demand for our product and increase the revenue we receive for what we produce.”

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

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Joint Evaluation Advisory Committee Receives Reports

One of the first meetings to take place at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference is the Joint Evaluation Advisory Committee. This committee hears reports and makes recommendations to the appropriate program committees based on their findings.

I spoke with Beef Board Director of Evaluation, Polly Ruhland, about what the committee will be doing. Among other things they have been presented with the reports from two different evaluation projects. One focused on the National Beef Cook-off and the other on producer communications efforts. She says that all Checkoff programs are evaluated each year internally but between two to four are chosen to be evaluated externally.

In the case of the National Beef Cook-off they employed the firm of Don Jagoda Associates, Inc. to conduct the evaluation. It was very positive but did make some recommendations to make the program into a more consumer oriented contest.

For producer communications they employed Demeter Communications. This program had been revamped year before last. The company found the changes to be very positive. In my interview with Polly she provides some more detail about the recommendations this company made to make improvements to this program.

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

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Welcome To 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference

The communications staff of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board welcomes you to the 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference. Pictured are (l-r) Lynn Heinze, Melissa Slagle and Diane Henderson. I will be your Beef Board Blogger once again and looking forward to helping you learn more about the activities of the organization and the work taking place here this week at the conference.

To get us started with an overview of why the Beef Board meets during the summer I spoke with Lynn Heinze, Executive Director of Communications. He says this meeting is important for the planning process before making decisions for the next year. Committees will review proposed funding requests known as authorization requests. There will also be a large group of new members to the board who will be sworn in at this meeting. So we’ve got a number of first timers and I’ll make sure I interview several of them. The conference concludes on Saturday with a board meeting after a morning of committee meetings.

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

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Note to ag media: Please feel free to download interviews and photos during the conference for your use in stories and broadcasts. Let us know if you have any questions

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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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

New CBB Chairman Dan Dierschke

Welcome new CBB Chairman Dan Dierschke, Texas rancher. Dan took the gavel this morning at the annual meeting and I spoke with him about his priorities for the coming year.

Dan says he has three goals as chairman: 1) develop an effective response to the increasing demands of the anti-animal use activists, 2) continue to use checkoff investments to build beef demand, and 3) reduce counter-productive arguments within the industry and stress our common goals.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

You can listen to or download (mp3) my interview with Dan here:

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Here’s the list of new officers/executive committee members:

Chairman: Dan Dierschke, TX
Vice Chairman: Tom Jones, AR
Secretary/Treasurer: Robert Fountain, Jr., GA
Virginia Coehlo, CA
Virginia Davis, IN
Will Frazee, IA
Wesley Grau, NM
Kristy Lage, NE
Hank Maxey, Jr., VA
Daryl Berlier Owen, TX
Sid Sumner, FL