Agricultural News
Oklahoma Beef Council Pleased With Early Results of Targeted International Investments of Checkoff Dollars
Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:43:49 CST
The Oklahoma Beef Council is one of 249 organizations that are members of the US Meat Export Federation- membership includes many of the State Beef Councils in larger cattle population states. And, according to Heather Buckmaster, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Beef Council, her board decided in fiscal year 2012 that they would allocate more precious beef checkoff dollars to the USMEF in an effort to create more demand for US beef- going above and beyond their base assessment.
One of the countries where extra Oklahoma dollars were allocated this past year was to Japan. In March 2012, USMEF leveraged $45,000 in funding support from the Oklahoma Beef Council with a promotional investment of more than $240,000 from Ito Yokado to conduct a month-long U.S. beef promotion with the retailer called the "American Beef Fair." Focusing on increasing sales of U.S. beef middle meat, the promotion showcased a variety of chilled cuts, including chuck rib, strip loin, and chuck eye roll.
Tasting demonstrators were deployed to the 174 participating Ito Yokado outlets across Japan where they instructed customers how to cook the specific cuts and distributed samples to eager consumers. As a result of the "American Beef Fair," Ito Yokado sold 128 mt of U.S. beef reached, an increase of 14 percent over the pre-promotion period.
Buckmaster also looks forward to the day that Japan raises the maximum age of beef cattle that they will accept beef from. The current ceiling of 20 months of age means at most that 25% of a month's kill is eligible for the Japanese market- whent he standard is raised to 30 months or younger- 95% of the daily kill in US beef processing plants will be available to go to Japan.
Heather Buckmaster is our guest on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region 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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