10 NATIONAL CATTLEMEN
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STATE BEEF COUNCILS
Building beef demand by inspiring, unifying and supporting an effective state/national checkoff partnership.
Beef Stew Warms the Hearts of Runners at Iowa Off-Road Race Beef stew was one of the highlights Iowa th Beef Indust r y of the 37 Council annual Living History Farms Off-Road Race Nov. 21 in Urbandale, Iowa, thanks to Iowa beef producers and beef donated by the Iowa Beef Industry Council (IBIC) and the Beef Checkoff Program. Thousands of runners braved the cold temperatures and snow, challenged by a course that wound through farm land, over creeks and across many obstacles. At the end they were rewarded with a warm bowl of beef stew served up by members of the Dallas County 4-H Club and the Madison County Youth Beef Team. “Beef is an excellent source of protein, which is a great tool to refuel the runners,” according to Brooke German, IBIC director of marketing. “Among the thousands of runners were many Team BEEF members representing states such as Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota.” Iowa Team BEEF member Jack Dekkers, professor of animal science at Iowa State University, enjoyed refueling with beef stew after crossing the finish line. “It was great to hear the crowd cheer the beef team on during the race,” he says. “It was even better to cross the finish line and refuel with beef stew. After a long and challenging race, protein is exactly what my body needs to repair.”
The Beef Stew Tradition Starting in 1897, the Boston Marathon for many years had the tradition of serving beef stew following the race. In 1980, however, organizers – apparently seeing the growing number of runners and heeding the grumbling of the anti-beef crowd – began serving yogurt and power bars as refueling agents. Team BEEF throughout the country is helping change the dynamic. In fact, in 2006 the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative served 1,000 pounds of beef stew from a booth at the end of the Boston Marathon, to rave reviews. More than 8,000 samples of Provencal Beef Stew were served to race spectators just 100 yards from the finish line of the worldclass event. German says the Living History Farms Race, which takes place at the Living History Farms in Urbandale, is an event IBIC looks forward to every year. “Rain, sleet or snow, we are always excited to see everyone brave the weather and finish the race with the signature beef stew.” The beef stew was prepared by the Iowa Machine Shed.
Wyoming Builds State Long Range Plan Using the national Long Range Plan 20162020 as a blueprint, the Wyoming Beef Council (WBC) has developed its own Long Range Plan that starts in 2016. The mission of the plan is to increase beef demand domestically and internationally for the benefit of Wyoming farmers and ranchers. To support the mission and vision of the Beef Industry Long Range Plan, the WBC will capitalize on Wyoming’s ranching culture and heritage to improve the image of the beef community among millennial parents and key thought leaders and entice millennial parents to cook beef and share recipes by providing recipes that showcase Wyoming’s culture and heritage. WBC will proactively educate influencers about environmentally, socially and economically sustainable beef production practices and educate health and nutrition influencers about the nutritional benefits of beef.
Wyoming Beef Council
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WBC will also increase the percentage of Wyoming beef producers who feel informed about the checkoff to 80 percent by January 2017 and increase the approval rating of the beef checkoff in Wyoming to 75 percent by the same date. As part of its funding philosophies, the plan recognizes that Wyoming checkoff dollars have the greatest potential to affect a positive change in consumer behavior when pooled with dollars from other state beef councils and when used in high-population areas. “The Beef Industry Long Range Plan is one of the most important tools state beef councils have,” according to Ann Wittmann, WBC executive director. “We know that in order to impact demand, we must work together as an industry to meet long term goals. The plan allows us to consider the impact we have, as a cow-calf state, on the rest of the industry, and it assists us in assessing how we can best contribute to those goals. It also gives us a base against which we can measure our accomplishments and evaluate our programs.”
Sustainability: Beef Fits
Iowa Team BEEF members (from left) Jack Dekkers, Sue Dekkers and Amber Caudle warm up with a bowl of beef stew after the 2015 Living History Farms race Nov. 21.
By the Numbers: 2.2 Million 994,000 94 percent 88 percent 80 percent 74 percent
Number of visitors to BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com as a result of digital checkoff advertising Recipe-page views the advertising generated on the BIWFD site Satisfaction with the website, in research conducted by Hall & Partners Research Visitors to recipe pages who were influenced to try new recipes Visitors who tried new beef cooking/preparation methods Visitors influenced to try new cuts of beef
America’s beef producers are leaders in sustainability, and their commitment to producing responsibly raised beef to consumers across the globe is demonstrated in the Beef Sustainability Research program, which is supported by the Beef Checkoff program. This program includes the assessment of sustainability using an approach that balances environmental responsibility, economic opportunity and social diligence across the beef value chain. Two fact sheets have recently been published through the beef checkoff to take on significant beef production questions. These fact sheets, the first
produced in a series called “Tough Questions about Beef Sustainability,” provide rational, factual answers to some of the more challenging and complex issues related to the topic. The first, How does the carbon footprint of U.S. beef compare to global beef ?, addresses specific production methods of the nation’s beef in relation to others across the world, while Does Beef Really Use That Much Water? examines the actual water usage of U.S. beef production. For copies of these white papers, go to http://www.beefresearch.org/ beefsustainability.