Agricultural News
Five Months Into the Job, New CEO Greg Hanes Offers His Perspective of Beef Checkoff Efforts
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 07:41:00 CST
Greg Hanes took over the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion board five months ago. Hanes left his job at the U.S. Meat Export Federation, a longtime contractor of the CBB.
Hanes says his experience with USMEF has helped him in his new role as the new top hired hand of the dollar head beef checkoff, "I've been in my current role now for almost five months, so still kind of figuring things out. I've gotten a pretty good feel of what we are doing, and I think having been a contractor with the checkout through U.S. Meat Export Federation, I was there for 18 years so I have a pretty good feel for what the Checkoff can do, and what it can't do. This really gives me an opportunity to work on what we are doing to promote beef, not just internationally but domestic activity as well. For me, this is super exciting to be able to represent the cattle producers here globally, and especially in the United States."
The Checkoff has been around for 34 years now and having worked with big contractors like USMEF, Hanes says you really get a proper perspective and education on how the Checkoff protects those dollars as they invest them, and sets performance expectations. Hanes thinks that is something that a lot of the producers don't understand, "Having worked as a contractor, I was very aware of that because there are lots of restrictions. You have to be able to verify and show what you are using. You have to have results. The operating committee is made up of all producers around the country makes these funding decisions, and if they don't, you are doing a good job; you won't get your funding. So its a very competitive process. The process is transparent, but there are a lot of checks and balances in there, which I don't think most people realize."
Hanes says they have some exciting things going on with the Checkoff. He says many things are going on Internationally and wants producers to be excited about that. He says one of the challenges they face is getting that message out to the producers, "That's tough, because there are so many producers out there, and there's so much happening that it's tough to really get everything out there."
The other challenge is the misinformation. Hanes adds that there are a lot of people and groups out there that do not understand the Checkoff and spread false information, "Everything we say from the CBB has to be fact-checked. It has to be approved by USDA, so we just can't go out and make things up. Where, unfortunately, other people are, so we want to get that message out a lot more, and be very transparent and talk about the process. How decisions are made, the vigorous audit and review procedures, and the evaluations that go on. So I think if the producer sees this, they will appreciate the Checkoff even more."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear the complete interview with Greg Hanes as he talks with Ron Hays.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is 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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