Agricultural News
Cattlemen Beef Board Chair Brett Morris of Oklahoma Talks FY2018 Plan of Work for Beef Promotion
Sat, 11 Nov 2017 21:48:43 CST
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Associate Farm Director Carson Horn caught up with Brett Morris, a cattle producer from Ninnekah, Oklahoma and current chairman of the Cattlemen's Beef Board, during the National Association of Farm Broadcasters convention this week. Morris reviewed some of the activities the board has been engaged in, recently. Listen to their conversation, by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below at the bottom of the page.
Most recently, Morris says the CBB just wrapped up its operation committee meeting, which sets the budget for the upcoming year. In total, the committee had roughly $38 million dollars in which to work with to fund Checkoff related programs.
"When we arrived at the operating committee, we had requests for $45 million," Morris said. "By the time everything was said and done, we were only going to have about $37 to $38 million to work with. So, in essence we had to come up with a plan and distribute that money and cut $7million from what was requested."
The money was divided up to fund a variety of programs that fell into six different categories including promotion, research, consumer information, foreign marketing and education, industry information and producer communication. The committee itself is made up of 20 total members; 10 from the Cattlemen's Beef Board and 10 from the Federation of State Beef Councils. Morris says it is the task of these producers to appropriate the funds in a way that best serves the industry.
"It's left up to the committee of 20 producers to make those decisions and cuts as to how that money is being spent to get the biggest bang for their buck for producers back home," he said, harkening the bottom-up structure of the industry. "It's a grassroots effort. Producers are very well represented there and it's a good group to work with."
In addition to this, the Beef Checkoff has also just launched a new campaign designed to revitalize the 'Beef It's What's for Dinner' brand. The campaign incorporates elements being heavily utilized on social media platforms, such as hashtags to promote awareness and allow people to connect, share and engage with the campaign. The emphasis on digital platforms is specifically to target the Millennial generation - which is becoming an increasingly more important demographic for the beef industry. One element of the campaign is a series of videos that illustrates producers' way of life and how they raise cattle.
"To be honest, the very first video of it - I just got chills from looking at it, because it gave me that 'feel good' feeling. I'm part of that, I pay the checkoff dollar and this is what my checkoff dollar is going to," he said. "The connection we've got to have is to just get the producers to that website and let them see it. It's also a great resource for consumers to go to."
Morris says it offers consumers a look into the beef industry and focuses on the quality of American raised beef. Additionally, the use of digital platforms allows the CBB to collect metrics that give them a laser focus on how they use their resources and measure how affective their efforts are.
"We're not taking the shotgun affect to this," he said. "We're having a larger focus on what we're doing."
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