Beef Briefs: May 2010
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Look for Beef Briefs to be delivered the first of each month -- your 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 e-mail Melissa Slagle at mslagle@beefboard.org.
In case you missed it…
… CDC Reports Decrease in E. coli Illnesses
… Checkoff advertising campaign launches in May
… Checkoff seizes summer retail opportunities (audio report)
Duty-free Quota Boosts Opportunities for U.S. Beef in Europe
The European Union’s recent opening of a new, zero-duty quota for high-quality beef has created expanded opportunities for U.S. beef producers and suppliers. The quota, which came into force in August, allows for 20,000 metric tons of high-quality beef at an in-quota tariff of zero. This is in addition to the existing 11,500 metric ton quota that carries a tariff of 20 percent.
EU import license allocations for U.S. beef during the first quarter of 2010 totaled 2,525 metric tons, an increase of 125 percent over allocations made last year under the old quota. EU import data for January 2010 (the latest month available) show a 58 percent increase in imports from the United States, with the U.S. share of the EU’s chilled beef imports rising from 7 percent last year to 9 percent in 2010.
Beef exported under the new quota must be derived from non-hormone-treated cattle (NHTC) that are less than 30 months of age. Click here for more about the checkoff’s foreign marketing activities.
Telling The Checkoff Story
Beef Board and Operating Committee member Glenda Flora, a cow-calf and dairy producer in Quinter, Kan., participated in a live radio discussion with KRFM farm broadcasters Trent Loos and Kyle Bauer. An off-shoot discussion from a post that Loos made on Facebook, asking whether his fans preferred the voice of Sam Elliott or Matthew McCaughey, the radio program featured the consumer advertising campaign funded by the Beef Checkoff Program. As the former chairman of the Joint Advertising Committee, Glenda explained and discussed the checkoff’s consumer ad campaign and the history behind it. Click here to listen.
Agriculture Under Siege
On April 10th, Jacque Matsen, executive director of issues management for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, contractor to the Beef Checkoff Program, was the keynote speaker, along with BEEF magazine’s Amanda Nolz, at the 2010 American Agri Women Mid Year Conference. Jacque led the group in a discussion titled, “Agriculture Under Siege” – an update on myths currently being spread about agriculture production methods. Matsen quoted Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) CEO Wayne Pacelle saying, “We have the potential to be one of the most powerful forces in politics.” In addition to HSUS, Matsen listed off some of the other key players in this movement, and identified their tactics. Matsen said it all boils down to one thing, consumer trust. Click here to listen to the presentation in its entirety. Audio made courtesy of Brian Allmer, The BARN Media.
Calling BQA Award Nominees
Now in its third year, the partially checkoff-funded national BQA Award recognizes outstanding cattle producers from across the country who incorporate BQA principles into the day-to-day activities on their operations. The award is open to all segments of the industry - commercial cow-calf, seedstock, stocker operators, feedlots and dairy operations. The deadline for this year's award is Aug. 1, 2010. For more information please visit this site or contact your state BQA coordinator.
Earth Day Success Stories
Thursday, April 22 marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. It’s also the third year of using this annual event as a hook for proactively telling the “Everyday Environmentalist” story on behalf of farmers and ranchers across the country. Here are some of the results of this year’s campaign…and, it’s not too late for producers to extend the positive message about beef and the environment.
This year’s proactive Earth Day campaign already has reached millions of consumers in major cities across the country, with more positive news to come. Like farmers and ranchers’ everyday commitment to the environment, the checkoff will continue efforts to educate the media on sustainable production practices, including the latest science on climate change and livestock production. Click here for more information.
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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