Industry Vows to Work Together at Convention

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With the tune of “Kumbaya” playing silently in the minds of roughly 5,000 attendees at that 2011 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show, Charles Miller unveiled the draft of the “Beef Industry Long-Range Plan” yesterday.  The 3-year plan was developed by a variety of industry stakeholders, ranging from cow/calf producers to Kroger to the American Farm Bureau Federation.  Acknowledging the need for a united front in the wake of exponentially growing industry challenges, the task force has identified core strategies and goals that they feel need to be approached by the industry as a whole.

The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association’s Leo McDonnell has been part of the task force and explained to Northern Ag how it came about.

These core strategies and related goals include:

  • Improving domestic consumer preference for beef

    • Goal:  Increase the Consumer Beef Index preference measure from 28{b5a992b8e63762954627fabd02ae0ce4cbdce5a7319b086354586c608f95fa42} to 31{b5a992b8e63762954627fabd02ae0ce4cbdce5a7319b086354586c608f95fa42}

  • Capitalizing on global growth opportunities

    • Goal:  Increase value of exports 25{b5a992b8e63762954627fabd02ae0ce4cbdce5a7319b086354586c608f95fa42} per head

  • Strengthening the image of beef and the beef industry

    • Goal:  Establish a benchmark measure of public perceptions of beef and beef production

  • Protecting and enhancing our freedom to operate

    • Goal:  Develop an index to measure and track freedom to operate

  • Improving industry trust, openness and relationships

    • Goal:  Establish benchmark of industry stakeholder perceptions of unity and trust

  • Positioning the U.S. cow herd for growth

    • Goal:  Increase bred heifer retention to 18{b5a992b8e63762954627fabd02ae0ce4cbdce5a7319b086354586c608f95fa42} while stabilizing U.S. beef production at a minimum of 26 billion lbs.

In the draft plan, which will be voted at the Convention this Saturday, also identifies the following critical success factors:

  • The development of a resourcing plan to achieve desired outcomes of the long range plan

    • Increase checkoff resources
    • Increase non-checkoff resources

  • The adoption of a practical and effective industry-wide animal disease traceability program

The underlying point of the project is to pool resources where the cattle industry has shared concerns, making the work more efficient and the message more uniform.

 

© Northern Ag Network 2011

Haylie Shipp

 

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