Agricultural News
Enhancing Beef Demand Must be Industry's Priority, Tom Field Says
Tue, 15 Oct 2013 15:45:39 CDT
The fortunes of all operators at every step of the beef industry chain ultimately rest with consumer demand for beef. And a University of Nebraska agribusiness specialist spoke on sustaining that demand, even amidst high retail beef prices, at the recent Beef Stocker Field Day at Kansas State University. Tom Field points out that maintaining the trust of beef consumers must continue to be a priority for the cattle industry-and that rests with good stewardship through the beef sector.
"We have to proved them a product that they can feel good about, that they know there was a person of integrity and experience who's standing behind that product, who gave great thought to the process that was used from production all the way to processing."
The encouraging thing, says Field, is that despite the economic recession in recent years, consumer interest in purchasing beef has remained resilient despite the fears of many inside the industry that consumers might switch to chicken.
"What the Checkoff and related research community found was that beef consumers stuck with the beef community. They might have traded down from a white-tablecloth premium muscle cut that they bought at the store and cooked at home. They might have traded down from a steak to a burger or to a flat-iron steak, something maybe a little lower in price, but they stuck with us."
Still, says Field, great challenges remain for the industry, in sustaining retail beef demand.
"The challenge for us now is how do we get the non-user and folks who don't like to cook and don't spend any time in food preparation to stick with us because, when things get tough, out-of-home eating drops off a little bit and we have the potential to lose that share if we are not prepared to help people use our product at home."
Fields says the beef industry must also figure out a way to connect with the Millennial Generation to help them understand the value and benefit of consuming lean beef.
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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