Beef Briefs. July 2008 Beef Checkoff News
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Beef Briefs – your quarterly snapshot of beef checkoff news affecting the dairy and beef industries. Editor’s note: please feel free to use these beef “blurbs” as space allows in your publication or online content. If you would like to expand on a certain topic, please email Melissa Slagle at mslagle@beefboard.org.
Beef/Dairy Symposium – The 2008 Cattle Industry Summer Conference, held July 15-19 in Denver, Colo., will feature a Beef-Dairy Animal Care and Quality Assurance Symposium sponsored by the beef and dairy industries. At last year’s Cattle Industry Summer Conference, the National Dairy Council and the Beef Checkoff Program teamed up for a joint nutrition symposium that examined the common nutrition environment faced by the beef and dairy industries, and the cooperative work being performed by the Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition. This year’s attendees will receive an update on the work of this coalition, including collaborative efforts in completing a new scientific index, successful thought leader outreach and education, and promoting the importance of high-quality protein in the diet. The symposium will also address the timely topic of animal care and handling guidelines for all segments of the beef industry.
Hispanic Marketing Toolkit – With 44.3 million people, the Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the United States and is growing faster than any other ethnic group. To best reach Hispanics and address their shopping needs, the beef checkoff developed a Hispanic Toolkit, designed to help supermarkets to better serve their growing Hispanic customer base by providing beef cuts and information needed to prepare authentic Latino dishes. The Hispanic Toolkit includes a bilingual Beef Cuts & Dishes Dictionary, bilingual peel-off recipe labels, bilingual signs and bilingual recipes. For more information, visit www.lacarnedesres.com.
Dairy Producers are Beef Producers, Too – The beef checkoff is continually communicating the message that dairy producers are beef producers, too. CBB officers Dave Bateman and Lucinda Williams recently conducted an interview with Dairy Today magazine editor Cathy Merlo about possible improvements to the checkoff process. This fall, Beef Board member Glenda Flora, dairy producer from Kansas, will travel to Madison, Wisc., to give a Dairy Beef Quality Assurance (DBQA) presentation at the International Forum for Women in Dairying conference. In addition, CBB and Wisconsin Beef Council members and staff will have a prominent presence at the World Dairy Expo tradeshow, also in Madison. On tap for fall, dairy producers from various states will have the opportunity to join the Beef Board at the Elite Dairy Producers Business Conference, where checkoff culinary expert Dave Zino will unveil new beef recipes to a nationwide dairy audience. For more information about the checkoff’s DBQA program, go to www.dbqa.org.
Veal Good News – Beef checkoff programs for veal are in full swing. The checkoff is planning a huge 2008 Veal Public Relations event June 26 at Kendall College in Chicago. The four new veal cuts developed through the checkoff will be paired with six additional sponsored products for an exciting veal-preparation event. For more information about checkoff-funded veal programs, go to the consumer section of vealstore.com at http://www.vealstore.com/Content/Consumers.aspx.
Sharing the Beef Message - The checkoff-funded spokesperson development program has been training beef and dairy producers to handle tough questions about hot topics – namely animal welfare and the environmental impact of beef production. To date, checkoff staff has conducted communications training sessions with retailers at the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative retail boot camp in Rye, N.Y., the American Angus Association in St. Joseph, Mo., and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo. For a fact sheet on animal welfare, go to Animal Welfare Factsand to view checkoff messages about beef and the environment, visit Beef & the Environment.
Warming up for the Cook-Off – The American National CattleWomen recently selected a location for the next National Beef Cook-Off, which is funded in part by the beef checkoff. The Cook-Off will be held Sept. 19-24, 2009 at The Lodge at Sonoma, a Renaissance Resort, 45 minutes north of San Francisco. For more information about the biennial event, go to www.beefcookoff.org.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.
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