CHIMES

DOES YOUR CAUSE MATTER?

by California CattleWomen, Inc., President Julie Barnett

California CattleWomen, Inc., membership has been busy getting back to some usual business in a postpandemic world. Multiple members and units have been able to return to activities in the classroom. Many have held promotional, social events and fundraisers for scholarships. Reported volunteer hours continue to go up as members get energized and excited to again be connecting with our communities and consumers. Siskiyou, MidValley and Amador-El DoradoSacramento units recently shared they had opportunities to connect with students. Our newest unit, Inyo-Mono CattleWomen participated in an Earth Day event to share the environmental benefits of cattle and ranching and made good connections with attendees with an invitation to return for next year’s event. CCW also returned to Bishop Mule Days for another successful opportunity to connect with urban and semi urban attendees alike. Parades, fairs and community celebrations have all provided Cattlewomen units opportunities for in person connection and promotion opportunities with consumers.

Units and members have been very active promoting “June is Grilling Month” on their social media platforms — giving consumers recipes and ideas about using beef as the star of their graduation, Father’s Day and summer kick off celebrations. Thanks to the California Beef Council, we have strong resources that are easy to share virtually and in person where we can create opportunities for connection with consumers.

Stepping Up to the Challenge

With the renewed interactions with the public, we have had a realization there are new and renewed challenges of how to handle the latest round of consumer questions and concerns about beef because of misinformation or misinterpretation of information. It continues to be clear that being about the purpose of Cattlewomen – of promoting beef and the ranching lifestyle – is more important than ever. Our cause matters.

To help our membership, CCW continues to look for opportunities to learn from good teachers inside and outside our industry to obtain advocacy training. We are in an accelerated season of cultural change in how we engage in person or through social media as industry and producer advocates and we are endeavoring to grow the skills of our membership to be able to meet the consumer where they are.

We began our stepped up training at the Midyear Meeting, where Joe Proudman, assistant director of communications for the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center at UC Davis center presented information on how to handle those surprises that suddenly land in front of us via the news or on social media. Often, the story behind the headlines are without context or good information. Did you know that there is science saying that you can see cow burps from space? Yes, this was a recent example. A major news media release about the topic helped CCW decide to step up our knowledge on how to handle new surprise information happening in the environmental science research realm. Thank you, CLEAR Center, for the great information and training! In person and online attendees learned so much.

Convention will be our next big step learning event – Michele Payn, international and national speaker, trainer and IPPY award-winning author of the acclaimed books Food Bullying, Food Truths from Farm to Table and No More Food Fights, will be a keynote speaker and workshop leader in Reno!

Michele has spoken to major trade organizations, has presented advocacy training to

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agriculture support industries, and taught economic development organizations. Testimonials about her presentations state that she does not come to give a status quo pep talk, she is known to be entertaining while providing tools to her audience to leave with functional ideas and information to be better advocates for the industry. She will help us learn the power of touching hearts to move minds. She helps her audience learn to connect the science to the consumer where it can matter on a personal level. I am personally so excited to learn from Michele! I can hardly wait for you to connect with her at the 2022 CCA/CCW Convention. You can learn more about Michele at causematters.com. Will you be at convention ready to grow your advocacy with connection efforts? It’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss.

Our Cause Matters – Beef is Real Food for Real People

Cattlewomen are helping the industry be up to the challenge to connect with consumers about their food and help them feel better about beef and beef production. We are creating opportunities to learn and grow, to learn what our consumers want to learn about and become better at connecting the dots. California Cattlewomen, Inc. has understood the ongoing challenge and have taken steps to provide tools and training. We will continue learn to build better customer connections and relationships to help those we meet feel confident about picking up beef at the meat case. We do it because we know our cause matters.

If you know someone who would like to help us make an impact for beef, visit cattlewomen.org and click “Join Us” in the menu bar to find the Interest in Membership form to help them get connected.

The California Beef Ambassadors candidates competed in an online contest sponsored by California CattleWomen, Inc., and the California Beef Council in April. Chairman Salene Duarte held another great, well run contest which created opportunities for contestants to share their solid knowledge about beef.

The judges were challenged to select the 2022 ambassadors from a group of strong, well qualified candidates that undergo Master’s of Beef Advocacy training as part of their preparation for the contest. Good training and solid information make strong ambassadors and better trained ambassadors for the local level after the contest concludes.

This year’s Senior ambassadors are:

Ashley Jordan – Overall 1st in Central Region – Santa Clara

County

Molly Fowler – 2nd Overall, 1st in Northern Region – Placer-

Nevada area

Kassidy Zulliger – 2nd Northern Region – Shasta County

The Junior Ambassadors are:

Luke Steele – 1st Northern Region – Shasta County

Samantha Prouty – 2nd Northern Region – Tehama County

Fallon McNeil – 1st Southern Region – Kern County

Summer is a great time to start preparing for next year’s local and state beef ambassador contests. If you know a potential Beef Ambassador or would like to compete, reach out to Maddison Easley, CCW Second Vice President of Promotion at ccwpromo. com to learn more and to connect with a local CattleWomen’s unit for resources and information.