CHIMES

EDUCATING CONSUMERS: A MISALIGNED FOCUS?

by California CattleWomen, Inc., President Julie Barnett

California’s CattleWomen (CCW) have a longstanding mission: to promote beef and the ranching industry. There are so many good reasons to continually evaluate and adjust our focus on the “how” we conduct our mission. Often by listening to each other within the industry, we lose focus, and we may be drifting away from the ultimate goal – encouraging more consumers to purchase our products and we start speaking only to those within the industry.

I was recently hit between the eyes by an article written by Prime Future that should challenge us all. In the article, it discussed that we need to be aware when we are developing education narratives that amount to a version of “kidding ourselves” by drinking and continually sharing our own version of “Kool Aid,” by continually circling around the idea that consumers need to be “educated.” We often do this by speaking in terms that are, in reality, speaking to the choir of those already in the industry to say things we like to hear. But the consumer is often left out of the process. That mindset of “educating” consumers can develop some unforeseen mindsets for us within the industry. It may be time for some self evaluation:

1) Are we burdening the consumer with being required to learn something that they may not be interested in learning? Are we dumping over a century of research on them without realizing it? 2) Are we dealing with their issue, want or concern? Often, the consumer is just looking for some reason to feel better about buying beef, and we think we need to have them agree with us through “education” and see things our way in order to purchase. 3) Are we limiting the ability to hear the consumer in front of us because we are so focused on our objectives of providing the “education” information? 4) Are we treating all consumers alike? That is not the reality of the consumer world. So how can we communicate that beef is a great choice? What if we shift our focus to marketing to our consumers instead of educating? Marketing is the backbone of the free enterprise system. It puts the power of decision into the hands of the consumer for their choices, and when a consumer is empowered they can feel better and more assured about purchasing, including purchasing beef. Marketing works with connection and emotions, not just head knowledge.

No consumer owes us an obligation of what they need to do for us, or the obligation to agree with us. Focusing on marketing is about how we make our business about the consumer, and how we are working for them. It shifts our mindset and narrative of what we share. As the article from Prime Future stated, it’s really about, “What have I done lately for my customers?” Sharing all the good we do for our customers, our communities, our land, our cattle is marketing, is not educating, but marketing. Our tone changes. The “why” for so many consumers is not about being in agreement with us, consumers often need to be feeling good about themselves being a beef consumer. We are pretty good at what we do, let’s learn to market the aspects of what we do well and continue to grow to become even better. Educating, often, without realizing it, becomes a lecture to the person hearing the information. Our customers are every person that walks into a grocery store or restaurant to purchase food to nourish themselves or their family. It is every customer that is celebrating a great achievement or special occasion. It is every person looking to improve their nutrition. It is a variety of people with a variety of reasons and a variety of concerns and a variety of focus. Let’s market ourselves to be the source to meet those desires and needs! We don’t need mountains of research to dump on every consumer we meet. As of this writing, our CCW Spring Meeting will be taking place in March at Hotel Winters where we will be working on beef promotion, learning from the new team members of the California Beef Council, who develop a variety of materials to help our variety of consumers. One of our focuses will be about marketing beef, giving good reasons to buy because of the benefits to the customer! As a nearly 1,800-member organization, the California CattleWomen are a great force in being the good voice for beef. Growing our membership and educating our team to be better at marketing will increase our impact and voice. Continuing to grow in how we do what we do is important to us all. So, have you evaluated how you promote beef? Take some time to do that soon. You never know when it will come in handy at the meat case while talking to a fellow human and your beef consumer! **If you would like to read the article from Prime Future, the newsletter for innovators in livestock, meat and dairy, check out primefuture.substack.com, look for newsletter 86.

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Pimento Cheeseburger

by Ryan Donahue for the California Cattlemen’s Foundation

Pimento Cheeseburgers are generally considered to be a creation of the American South. In my understanding pimento cheese was the result of New England cheesemakers making fresh unripened cheese formed in blocks a la cream cheese. At the same time, in the late 1800s, pimiento peppers (note the additional “i”) were being imported from Spain and their mild sweetness appealed to the masses. Given their popularity the peppers started being grown in the American South and soon after Pimento (notice now the lack of the “i”) became a staple in Southern Cuisine. There is an interesting, albeit exhaustive, beautifullywritten article by Robert Moss about the history of Pimento Cheese online at seriouseats.com. Ingredients • Ground beef (80/20 or thereabouts); 1/4 of a pound per person • Burger buns (on the smaller side... the cheaper the better) • 8 ounce block of sharp cheddar cheese (not pre-grated) • 1/8 cup mayonnaise • 4 tablespoons hot sauce (I used Crystal) • 4 ounce jar of diced (or sliced) pimentos • 8 ounce cream cheese (room temperature) • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper

*This recipe originally includes a housemade habanero aioli, which when made in large batches (for a restaurant) is worth the effort. We instead used Sir Kensington’s Sriracha Mayonnaise with good success (you could also stir in some hot sauce with traditional mayonnaise).

Tools

• Cast-iron pan or heavy bottomed skillet • Large spatula • Pie pan or lid (for covering to melt the cheese) • Mixing bowl • Hand mixer (optional)

Process

Grate the cheddar cheese on the large holes of a box grater. Add the cream cheese (room temp), grated cheddar, mayonnaise, hot sauce and pimentos to a mixing bowl and add a big pinch of salt. Stir to combine (some folks use a hand mixer... we used a spatula and elbow grease). The resulting mixture should have the hue and saturation of a Cheeto. This is very much a taste and adjust recipe so add more any of the above ingredients should you find the flavor lacking. (This recipe is enough pimento cheese for a dozen burgers.)

Portion your ground beef into the size a bit larger than a golfball (about 4 ounces or a quarter pound). Don’t over work the meat. Heat up your griddle (we’re aiming for 420 degrees) and toast all the buns you intend to use while the griddle is coming to temperature. Once it reaches temperature place beef balls (as many that will fit while allowing space). Using your spatula use both hands (a towel or oven mit could be useful here) and smash the patties to about a half-inch thick. At this temperature with this method the patty will be ready to flip in under a minute. Once you see beautiful brown edges on the bottom flip the patties. Season with salt, add a heaping scoop of pimento cheese. Cover with a lid or pie pan to melt the cheese. Once melted transfer the patties to the toasted buns. Enjoy!

Nazarian Introduces Bill to Prohibit Animal Feeding Operations and Slaughter facilities

On March 9, supporters of extreme animal rights groups such as Direct Action Everywhere (“DxE”) gathered on the steps of the State Capitol to support a moratorium on animal feeding operations and slaughterhouses within the state. The demonstration was picked up by The Sacramento Bee and other Capitolwatchers, and raised concern among many in the animal agriculture community, including CCA members. The activists were gathered in support of Assembly Bill 2764 by Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys). AB 2764 would prohibit, effective Jan. 1, 2023, the creation or expansion within California of animal feeding operation and slaughterhouses with annual revenues over $100,000. Nazarian’s bill proposes a fine of $10,000 per day for those who construct or expand feeding and processing facilities after that date. Because the $100,000 annual revenue limit would render creation of new feeding operations or slaughterhouses economically infeasible, AB 2764 would effectively amount to an outright prohibition on any new facilities. In support of AB 2764, Assemblyman Nazarian and the bill’s sponsors at DxE advance a great deal of misinformation regarding purported damages these facilities cause in terms of animal health, environmental quality and employee health – failing to acknowledge California producers’ leadership in each of these areas and California’s already-extensive regulation of these facilities. Importantly, AB 2764 runs contrary to both the Biden-Harris Administration and the Newsom Administration’s efforts to expand meat processing capacity to address the supply-chain and market challenges exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill is also contrary to the efforts of Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) last year to expand processing capacity; AB 2764 is likely to be initially referred to the Rivas’ committee. Given the countervailing priorities of state and federal leadership in Nazarian’s own party, AB 2764 is likely to garner strong bipartisan opposition. Nevertheless, CCA is working with a broad coalition of stakeholders in California’s animal agriculture community to strongly oppose AB 2764 and to correct the record regarding the value of feedyards and slaughterhouses to California and the state’s consumers. AB 2764 has not yet been referred to any policy committee and is not yet even eligible to be heard. As this story develops, though, CCA will continue to keep you apprised of the association’s efforts to kill this legislation early in the 2022 legislative calendar.

DIANE COOLEY

The Pajaro Valley in Santa Cruz County bid farewell to its beloved daughter on Thursday, March 10. Diane Porter Cooley was born on October 15, 1928, in Oakland and raised on Los Lomas Ranch in nearby Watsonville. The only child of Thomas Bishop Porter of Watsonville and Bernice Huggins Porter of Berkeley, her early life was filled with the beauty of the land, her beloved horse Quita, farming and ranching. Her parents were “town and country” people who loved both their country life on the ranch and their vibrant civic life in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties where the Porter Family has played a significant role since 1850. Her father Tom was one of the four founders of Driscoll Berries, a legacy Diane continued her involvement with until her death. She and her husband Don continued leasing farmland to Driscoll growers in the Pajaro Valley long after the Porters stopped growing berries themselves. Diane attended Watsonville High School before moving on to Stanford University at age 17. She loved her Stanford years and her involvement in leadership and academics, and graduated Cum Laude in 1950, with degrees in Political Science and Economics. While at Stanford, she met her future husband Donald Cooley, a student in the Graduate School of Business, on a blind date skiing in Badger Pass, Yosemite. The spark ignited and their marriage spanned 70 bountiful years. Together with their two children, Steven Porter Cooley and Anne Easton Cooley, the family enjoyed a rich life in the outdoors skiing, backpacking, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, river rafting and traveling to all seven continents. The most special times were always those on the ranches, riding horses into the hills, watching the cattle round-up and branding, playing tag in the hay bales or with the dogs and donkey. Diane and Don were a dynamic duo, he a career IBM businessman and she a community powerhouse in the cities they lived in and loved, from San Francisco, to Phoenix, to Greenwich, Conn., Santa Monica and at last back to Watsonville in 1980. Diane was a passionate civic leader and was dedicated to All Saints/Cristo Rey Episcopal Church in Watsonville, the Agricultural History Project at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds and the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation/Rogers House. She championed the creation and/or continuation of many causes from agriculture to the arts. Among her accolades and honors were Farmer of the Year; District State Assemblyman Woman of the Year; The UCSC Fiat Lux Award (along with her husband, Don); Honorary Ranger from the California State Parks Foundation (also with Don) and scores of others. Though she deeply loved her community and the ranches she called home, her family was the most important thing in her life. Not just her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, but her nieces and nephews, cousins, cousins’ children and her family tree in its entirety. Diane is survived by her husband Donald Cooley, daughter Anne and Ben Youngblood of Carmel and Los Angeles, daughter-in-law Debby Coolnas of Aptos, grandchildren Sam and Rebecca Cooley, Kathryn and Tyler Doman of Watsonville, Genevieve Fullerton Dash of Los Angeles and Thomas Porter Youngblood also of Los Angeles. In addition to her great grandchildren, Porter Ann and Eva Mae Doman and Sam Cooley, Jr., all of Watsonville, mark the seventh generation of the Porter Family in the Pajaro Valley and Watsonville. She was preceded in death by son, Steven Porter Cooley of Aptos, in February 2021. In her memory, please yodel, sing, laugh, have fun, hike a trail and, if you are so inclined, make a donation to the

Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation (Heritage Hall Project). www.fairgrounds-foundation.org or All Saints/ Cristo Rey Church, 437 Rogers St., Watsonville, CA 95076. Do you own cattle? You don’t need it, but should still support the

California

Cattlemen’s

Association

SHOULD YOU ORDER THE ANAPLASMOSIS VACCINE?

Anaplasmosis is an infectious parasitic disease in cattle, spread primarily by ticks and blood sucking insects like mosquitoes. The killed anaplasmosis vaccine protects cows and bulls of any age from infection and requires a booster given 4 to 6 weeks after the initial vaccination. Find out below if you should order the vaccine! Do they graze in YES areas where Anaplasmosis NO is a problem? Do you want to prevent the effects of the disease including severe anemia, weakness, fever lack of

YES appetite, depression, constipation, decreased milk production, jaundice, abortion and possibly death? You don’t need to order it

ORDER TODAY BY CALLING (916) 444-0845! Available in 10 or 50 dose bottles 10 dose bottles: $8.50 per dose 50 dose bottles: $7.50 per dose *10 dose minimum and $10 flat rate shipping SOLD ONLY TO CALIFORNIA CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION MEMBERS

NO YES

(Consult your local veterinarian to find out)

NO