Agricultural News
Ambitious Beef Industry Long Range Plan Gains Acceptance in Denver
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 5:13:48 CST
A New "Beef Industry Long-Range Plan" was presented at the Cattle Industry Convention in Denver this past week- and Task Force members at the meeting noted that the plan represents four months of work by a diverse 23-member task force of cattle producers and feeders and ancillary industry, restaurant and supermarket representatives. Click here for the summary sheet that details the results from the Task Force- and lists the full task force by name.
They reported that the plan, which is normally revised every five years, covers just the next three years, explaining that the plan needs to be free to adjust quickly to market volatility, world economic uncertainty and other possible unforeseen events.
Kentucky cattle producer Charles Miller says the plan's vision statement calls for an industry that's united around a common goal of being "the world's most preferred and trusted source of beef and beef products," and its mission statement is to provide the highest-quality, safest and most consumer-friendly beef and beef products in an economically and environmentally sustainable way.
The plan establishes six core goals, and each goal surrounds a number of core initiatives and strategies. The goals include:
* Building domestic consumer preference for beef by increasing the consumer beef index preference measure from 28% to 31% by the end of 2013. (The measure represents the extent to which beef's positives with consumers outweigh its negatives.)
* Capitalizing on global growth opportunities by increasing the value of beef exports by 25% per head.
* Strengthening the image of beef and the beef industry by creating a means to measure public perception of beef and beef producers.
* Protecting and enhancing beef producers' freedom to operate by developing a means to measure and track the beef industry's business climate.
* Improving trust, openness and relationships within the beef industry itself by developing a benchmark to measure the unity of the industry.
* Positioning the U.S. cow herd for growth by increasing U.S. heifer retention 18% and stabilizing U.S. beef at a minimum of 26 billion pounds.
In addition, the Task Force believes that the beef industry must achieve two "critical success factors:" Increase both checkoff and non-checkoff resources and adoption of "a practical and effective industry-wide animal disease traceability program." Miller says it needs to be "industry wide" but participation in the traceability program would be voluntary.
Both the Cattlemen's Beef Board members and the Board of Directors of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association voted unamamously in favor of the three year plan this past Saturday in Denver. Miller says he is hopeful other groups will also endorse the efforts of the task Force.
We talk with Charles Miller- with our full interview with him on this subject that we did in Denver here in this special website/podcast version of the Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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