Beef Briefs: December 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 news items 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…
… Checkoff releases new millennial movies.
… Six new beef breakfast items introduced.
… National Beef Ambassadors producing outstanding results for beef producers.
The global appetite for U.S. beef continues to grow. For the fifth week in a row (Nov. 5-11), beef exports exceeded 35.2 million pounds and remained well above pre-BSE 2003 levels, according to a report from the U.S. Meat Export Federation, a checkoff contractor.
Exports to Mexico (8.8 million pounds) continued their rebound, and volumes remained strong to other markets, including Korea (5.7 million pounds), Japan (4.9 million pounds), Vietnam (4.4 million pounds) and Canada (4.2 million pounds), helping to ensure a very strong finish to 2010.
The value of beef exports in September 2010 equated to $151 per head of steer and heifer slaughtered and accounted for 11 percent of total U.S. production. This compares to $118.17 per head in September of 2009 when exports were 9.5 percent of total production. For the first nine months of 2010, the value of exports per head is $145.07 per head, which is $8.60 more than values in 2003.
Click here for more information about your checkoff investment in foreign marketing.
New Alliance Formed to Close Consumer Gaps About US Ag Industry
Modern agriculture continues to be attacked by a number of different groups. Unfortunately, as the majority of the
USFRA will focus its initial efforts on the following measurable goals:
- Increase consumer and thought leader trust and confidence in modern agriculture.
- Serve as a resource to food companies on the benefits of modern agricultural production.
- Work with leading health, environmental and dietary organizations to demonstrate the benefits of modern agricultural production.
- Increase the role of
To learn more, click here.
Go Lean With Protein
There are 29 cuts of beef now available at retail that meet government guidelines for lean, so it's easy to "go lean with protein" and follow the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that you've already been enjoying many of the lean cuts of beef!
Finding delicious, yet healthful solutions for your entire family are as close as your grocer's meat case. On average, a 3-ounce serving of lean beef is only 154 calories yet an excellent source of six nutrients (protein, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin and selenium) and a good source of four nutrients (phosphorous, choline, iron and riboflavin).
Click here for a checkoff-funded fact sheet about the lean cuts.
2011 Long-Range Plan in Development
A team of beef industry leaders have initiated the beef industry’s 2011 long range planning process. The group’s final report will be a three-year strategic plan for the beef industry. At an earlier meeting, the group reviewed an industry economic outlook and heard current and future situational assessments on international markets, consumer/social trends, political landscape and production and management trends. After this information was heard and discussed, the group completed a formal, industrywide situation assessment, drafted mission and vision statements for the industry, defined relevant goals and objectives and identified the most critical strategic issues and opportunities to be addressed in the industry long range plan. The group met again in November, and plans to deliver a completed draft of the long range plan to the directors of various industry organizations for review and approval early in 2011.
Click here for a list of participants.
Checkoff Highlights Value of BQA to Producers
On December 13, the beef checkoff will be hosting a media webinar titled, “BQA -- Protecting Beef’s Image.” The webinar will feature Dee Griffin, DVM, feedlot production management veterinarian and professor at the University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center, and Jim Collins, director of industry relations for Southeastern Livestock Network, LLC, as they discuss checkoff-funded Beef Quality Assurance programs and their importance to U.S. cattle producers.
Griffin and Collins will spend time discussing past BQA audits; national guidelines and manual; BQA trainings; BQA certification (why it’s important for ALL producers to be BQA-certified); online certification — new for 2011; and, employee training.
For more information, or to RSVP for the webinar, e-mail Melissa Slagle.
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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