Mind of a Millennial | Ringing in

In the Mind of a Millennial

Ringing in a New Year (Thank Goodness)

By Jill Scofield | Director of Producer Relations, California & Nevada Beef Council

I know I’m not alone in being pretty happy to see 2020 end. It was quite a year.

When I talk to other parents around my age, the consensus seems to be that this past year will be what we refer to when we’re telling our grandkids how tough we had it. Our generation’s shared story of “walking to school uphill in snow”, if you will. But at the same time, I think we can all agree that it’s a bit tiresome continuing to complain about the year that was 2020. None of us was immune to negative impacts the year and its challenges brought us, even if those impacts looked different for each of us individually. So, this column will not continue with the “bellyaching,” but focus on how some of the shifts in consumer behavior and perceptions over the past nine months impact the beef industry specifically. And guess what? There’s actually some positive news!! In December, some great consumer insight was released by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. A thorough report titled “State of the Consumer, Fall 2020” is now available at BeefResearch.org, and contains really interesting data and trends from the past several months. This report was compiled and analyzed by a Checkoff-funded research team, and provides some useful information for producers to better understand the consumer’s mindset after the year that was 2020, as well as what the long-term outlook might be for the beef industry. If you are interested in this type of data, I highly recommend you download the full report. I’ll share some of the key takeaways here, but you might enjoy a deeper dive into the information. Here’s what the data suggests.

Not surprisingly, as the world shifted seemingly overnight to a stay-at-home scenario, behavior shifted as well. Online media consumption during the height of the pandemic continued to grow. According to Nielsen, in the second quarter of 2020, 142.5 billion hours were spent streaming video, which is 74% higher than the same quarter in 2019. And this wasn’t just staples like Netflix and YouTube – video views on social media platforms were high, with 66% of Gen Z and 53% of Millennials claiming to have watched social media videos in the month of July alone. Also not surprisingly, digital website visits increased, with consumers spending nearly 50 more minutes on app or web-based content through their cell phones or tablets. Regarding beef specifically, searches that took consumers to BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com also saw shifts, with notable increases in searches for classic meals like meatloaf, stuffed peppers, and London Broil recipes. There was also more focus on oven roasting recipes, which supports an overall increase in Google search behavior about roasts in general. In terms of the impact to the food industry, the seismic shock of the pandemic-caused shutdowns resulted in a nearly 80% decrease in transactions at full-service restaurants, and over 40% decrease at quick-service restaurants at the peak of the pandemic. And while that has steadied somewhat, overall transactions still show a decline. On the flipside of this decline in the foodservice industry, at the retail level, the opposite was true, especially in the early days of the pandemic. Even though the number of consumers claiming to be stocking up on more than they need has gone down since the beginning of the pandemic, well over half of consumers continue to stock up. Looking at meat specifically, sales in July of 2020 were 36% higher than a year prior. (For context, a 1-2% growth in a typical year would be positive.) And if you recall some of the empty store shelves we saw in March, it’s probably not a big surprise that beef sales were quite high – there was a week in March in which beef sales were nearly 90% higher than the same week in 2019. In terms of types of meat products consumers were stocking up on, 59% claimed to be stocking up on chicken, with 55% stocking up on ground beef, 30% stocking up on beef steaks, and 13% stocking up on plant-based proteins.

With this behavior taking place throughout the country, and the decline in foodservice transactions, the amount of cooking at home consumers were doing in the pandemic increased significantly as a result. One outcome of this has been an increase in confidence in cooking, with 62% of consumers claiming they are more knowledgeable now about selecting and preparing meat compared to prepandemic. For beef, consumption and positive perceptions increased during 2020. From January to September, the percentage of consumer claiming to eat beef at least weekly increased from 67% to 72% compared to 2019, and the number of people with a positive perception about beef also increased, with positive perceptions reaching 70% overall for the first time. What’s more, positive perceptions specifically regarding how cattle are raised increased 18% compared to 2019. If you’d enjoy reading the full report, I encourage you to visit BeefResearch.org to download it. You’ll also find some other fascinating studies and reports on a variety of aspects about beef production, consumption, consumer behavior and more. As I close out this month’s column, I hope everyone stays safe and healthy in 2021, and that we all experience better days ahead. Happy New Year!

By Joseph Guild

THE 2020 ELECTION

The recent Nevada and National elections provide an opportunity for a perspective aside from commenting

on the individual wins and losses. One thing for sure, in my mind, the founders of our country did not spend months and months in vain to create the unique system we have to elect our national leader. The founders of this country, in reaction to the dominance of a faraway absolute monarch, a negative colonial experience and a revolutionary war, created a government unique in the history of mankind. The solution to their complaints against the tyranny of absolutism was a limited government with three co-equal branches; executive, judicial and legislative so that power could not be concentrated in one or two branches over the others. As an example, the Electoral College was devised to prevent more populous states from dominating the election of our President. This institution has come under a lot of criticism in recent elections. It is ironic that the Democratic Party complained loud and hard when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 but lost to President Trump in the electoral college because he picked up enough popular votes in three states to give him the election with 306 electors. Of course, they are not complaining now because the electors met and voted the election in favor of Joe Biden. If there was no Electoral College a candidate for President would be able to win the election by campaigning in very few states while ignoring the rest of the country. TV ads would dominate the election and a candidate would not campaign very hard in places like Iowa, Minnesota or Tennessee. Most of the large population centers of our country are predominantly Democratic so it would be very difficult to achieve a balanced government by occasionally having a Republican President or one or both houses in Congress run by Republicans. Why is this important? We are seeing this play out as the nation prepares to see if the United States Senate will continue to be run by the Republicans because there is a runoff election for two Senate seats in Georgia currently held by Republicans. If the Democratic candidates win both of these seats the power in the Senate will shift out of Republican hands. There is no black and white in politics just as there isn’t in life as much as many people would like there to be no gray areas. There are always political nuances and this is illustrated by the current drama being played out in Georgia. If a voter wants to see a complete dominance by one party, the Democratic party, even if they do not like the candidates then they will vote for dominance over balance. If all the power in our national elected government, the Executive and Legislative branches was lodged in one party, the Democratic party, I believe this would go against the wishes of our founding fathers. I also believe there is something almost in the DNA of the voters in this country which reflects this visceral reaction against one faction or party domination by our elected officials. That is why the Georgia election has captured the attention of people outside of Georgia. This phenomenon was also illustrated in the election results here in Nevada. There was a fundamental change in Nevada’s Legislature reflecting the founder’s original intent. Prior to the election, the Nevada State Assembly had what is known as a super-majority. This means that house could pass new taxes and could override the Governor’s veto of one of their bills with just Democrat votes. Additionally, the Nevada Senate needed one more Democrat Senator to achieve the same super-majority status. The common preelection wisdom was the Assembly would retain their status and the Senate could pick up its needed seat. The result of this outcome would have been a complete dominance by one political party in this state. However, Republicans flipped three seats in the Assembly and gained one seat in the Senate. Thus, even though the Democrats control both houses of the Legislature and the Governor is a Democrat, some balance has been restored and the two parties will have to work together to solve some of Nevada’s pressing problems caused by the COVID 19 pandemic including significant budget deficits. As of this writing, it appears one of the Republicans will retain their seat in Georgia which means the U.S. Senate will remain narrowly controlled by the Republican Party. I believe this helps to support my argument the voters have expressed a desire for a balanced government. Thus, as reflected in some of the 2020 election results, one unintended consequence of the founder’s vision to create a limited government might also be a voter instinct that favors a balanced system of compromise, conservative action and limitations inherent in each of the coequal branches of our unique government which militates against complete dominance by one faction over another. Therefore, even if the election results did not go the way you wanted, from a larger viewpoint whether a Republican, Democrat, affiliated with some other party or an Independent, you should take comfort in the notion that a balanced government is a stronger, more representative government.

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Have We Lost Government Of The People?

By Doug Busselman | Nevada Farm Bureau | Executive Vice President

When you use your web browser and type in “leg.state.nv.us” you will be taken to the Nevada Legislature’s

website. You will notice, near the top of the page, this announcement – “The 81st (2021) Session of the Nevada Legislature will begin on February, 1, 2021.” What isn’t said, because at this point we don’t know, … is how the 81st Session of the Nevada Legislature will be carried out. Yes, the webpage for the Nevada Legislature makes the rather bold statement that the Nevada Legislature is “The People’s Branch of Government.” On the other hand, having made that statement, you will recall from the experiences of the 2020 special legislative sessions (Special Session # 31 and # 32) that they were conducted without any citizen being allowed into the Legislative Building. Elected representatives (who wanted to attend in person) were permitted into the building. Certain staff members of the legislature were allowed in the building. Selected members of the media were permitted to be in the building. Beyond those limited qualifications, Nevada citizens were not allowed to enter the building and participate in person in the discussions of proposed legislation. Committees of the Whole meetings would be scheduled to be broadcast on the Nevada Legislature’s YouTube feed. Frequently these meetings were scheduled to meet at 10 a.m or even sooner and then they actually would start in the evening and go into the early hours of the next morning. “Citizen participation” came in the form of being told to call a phone number and wait for the assigned time of being in favor of the legislation, opposed to the legislation or neutral. When allowed to speak, based on whether the devoted timeframe wasn’t already exceeded by others who might have been called on before you did, you would be granted two minutes to make your statement. Will the 2021 Legislative Session be the same? Do those who are in charge of the operations of Legislative process really want for citizens to be engaged? The isolated, non-interaction with those being represented seemed to favor an agenda geared to having government be in charge without limitations… Based on the videos that came out of one of the special sessions, when members of the Nevada Assembly as well as staff members who were necessary for the process to operate, the video on Facebook showed how busy they were piling beach footwear (“flip-flops”) in front of one of the Senator’s office and then trailed the footwear down the hall and down the stairs. Nevada citizens being allowed in the Legislative Building might have cramped the legislative process from being as meaningful as it was during those serious times. Beyond the question of how the 81st session’s business will be conducted, there are also a few other things that will be necessary to work through. A destroyed state economy, because of the forced closures of a number of businesses, record levels of people being thrown of out work have also brought about less revenue being sent to pay for the amount of government than some believe is necessary. The gap between what government would like to spend and what is available to spend is going to require attention. The boundaries of legislative districts (re-apportionment) is another rather significant agenda item for the 2021 Nevada Legislature. As you continue to sift through the elements to be talked about (whether citizens are allowed in the Legislative Building or limited to only a virtual experience of watching it on computer or tablet screen), there is a growing stack of legislative proposals which will be dealt with in some fashion. From what we have been able to determine so far, water will be at a high level of priority for 2021 with many critical details that need to be worked out. Over the past several months there have been regular interactions with the There are many reasons for initiating Nevada Division of Water Resources contact with the members of the and through these discussions there Assembly and Nevada Senate who may at least be a better understanding, will be representing you in the 81st if not agreement. The willingness of the Legislature, but maybe the primary State Engineer and staff of the Division reason should be to stress with them is of Water Resources to engage in open the need for an open 2021 legislative discussion is a definite plus which we have appreciated being able to be part of. process with meaningful ability for public engagement and full participation On the other hand, those conversations, in the deliberations ahead. at least as far as we know, have not included members of the Nevada Legislature, and ultimately it comes down to working with legislators rather than just getting to have a group of stakeholders interacting with the agency Locking the doors to “The People’s Branch of Government” is not an acceptable approach for the 2021 Nevada Legislature. Pretending that the 31st and 32nd Special Sessions were okay, representatives. given the circumstances of how state Beyond water, there are other legislative proposals of interest (several dealing with important agricultural matters) surfacing government required that people should not interact with other people, does not constitute a legitimate work-around. in pre-filed legislative bills and more to We need to be firm in the conviction come as we get to the introduction process that we are a government of the people when legislators have an opportunity to and not just in the revamped fashion of make formal introductions. mailing in election ballots.

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Haaland’s bills offer clues to how she might run Interior Michael Doyle, E&E News reporter 12.21.2020 • www.eenews.net

Rep. Deb Haaland has already mapped out what she might try to do as Interior secretary through the myriad of bills she’s introduced in Congress.

Long before being named President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Interior Department, the New Mexico Democrat defined her priorities through the 51 bills and resolutions she’s authored. Few House members have sponsored as many during the soon-to-expire 116th Congress. One bill, for instance, H.R. 8455, directs the Interior to establish an “Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names” to examine renaming geographic features with offensive place names. The 16-member panel would include four members of an American Indian tribe and one representative of a tribal organization. “Offensive or racist place names are restricting access and prevent many from feeling welcome on lands that belong to all of us,” Haaland said. “It’s past time to change the offensive names of public lands, especially with input from groups who have been discriminated against.” The existing U.S. Board on Geographic Names is housed within Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, and if confirmed as secretary, Haaland could set up the new advisory committee without needing congressional approval. In a similar vein, another Haaland bill, H.R. 8420, would establish a “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States” to study the impacts of a federal policy under which American Indian and Alaska Native children were forcibly removed from their family homes and placed in boarding schools. As Interior secretary, with a jurisdiction that includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education, Haaland could be in a strong position to organize a commission and investigate a policy whose subjects included her own Native American parents. “I know not many people are aware of the history of Indian boarding schools, and I know it’s not taught in schools,but our country must do better to acknowledge our real history and push for truth and reconciliation,” Haaland said. Yet another measure, H.R. 8401, calls upon Interior and the Agriculture Department to complete an interagency report on the use of special recreation permits by recreation service providers serving environmental justice communities. The bill defines an EJ community as a community with significant representation of communities of color, low-income communities, or tribal and Indigenous communities that experience, or are at risk of experiencing, higher or more adverse human health or environmental effects than other communities. “Equal access to natural areas and open lands is a right that everyone holds,” Haaland said. “However, low-income communities across the U.S. are consistently denied access to these natural treasures, and the benefits that public lands provide.” It would be a relatively simple matter for Haaland to order up such a study if she were confirmed as Interior secretary. Other priorities, as expressed in her introduced legislation, would require congressional action. One bill, for instance, H.R. 1050, would, among other steps, designate lands within the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte national monuments in New Mexico and in the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

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Melinda Sarman, President 775-385-3619 New Year, New Ideas for Production Agriculture!

In early December, Nevada CattleWomen Inc. held

a special Annual Meeting via Zoom. The Nevada CattleWomen Executive Board felt it was important to gather safely. The General Membership meeting had Guest Speakers, Special Gratitude Award, Secretary’s and Treasurer’s reports. Presidents from Affiliates gave updates on what their affiliates were busy with, State Committee Chairs gave reports, and I had president announcements. The meeting started with our special guest speakers. Agricultural Advocate, Amanda Radke, has dedicated her career to serving as a voice for the nation’s beef producers. She gave a powerful discussion on what family ranches need to be prepared for. Amanda also urged us to support our friends and neighbors, we are all facing uncertain times. Our very own ANCW President, Evelyn Green, joined the meeting from Alabama. She gave a power point presentation on all of the empowering programs that the American National CattleWomen are involved in. ANCW will have an influential future in 2021 under Evelyn’s leadership. Jill Ceresola Scofield from California and Nevada Beef Council gave an update on the beef check off and what it is doing for you. She also updated us on the Stewardship and Stockmanship training that is scheduled for this summer in Elko, Nevada. To round out our special guest speakers was Nevada Cattlemen President-Elect, Jon Griggs. Jon gave a brief talk on the programs that Nevada Cattlemen are involved in throughout Nevada and Nationally. Jon reminded us that 2021 is a legislative year for Nevada, He would appreciate your support for Nevada Agriculture. Let’s Talk Ag

Staci Emm | Editorial As the year 2020 comes to a close, there are no words that really fit what exactly this year has brought each and every one of us; and what is lurking ahead.

We have seen and been through so much over the past year. We have seen a state shutdown, lost loved ones, participated in the first federal stimulus (CARES Act), tumbling cattle and dairy prices, and a crash in the Nevada economy. We are also walking that tight rope of whether to sell cattle this fall, or wait until spring realizing that there are so many unknowns in the markets. As the year comes to a close, there is also a specific deadline that all state, local, tribal, and federal programs are facing. It is the deadline for expenditures under the CARES Act, and the depletion of unemployment funds in the state by the end of the year. I myself have been working on a CARES Act project under the Nevada Department of Agriculture to create an on-ranch mobile slaughter unit that engulfed most of my time this fall. It became a very stressful time for most us as we faced Covid-19 related delays, and had to strategically find that “Plan B.” New this year was a NCW Special Gratitude Award. Keri Pommerening introduced the Bell Family and spoke about this year’s winner, Lilla Bell. Lilla passed away on September 17, 2020. NCW wanted to honor Lilla’s hard work in the beef industry. Lilla was instrumental in getting more women involved in the American Polled Hereford Association, and was the first woman to serve as the chairman for this board which represented five Western States. She was also involved in helping youth with 4-H and FFA beef projects. Lilla was known as one of the top producers for her registered Hereford breed and was very active in the cattle industry. Her knowledge and passion will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Maddison Bowers and Keri Pommerening of the Nevada CattleWomen Development Fundraiser Committee have exciting news:

NLW has teamed up with our friends at Smith Valley Garage to offer a RAFFLE for

a Kubota Side-by-Side. This 4WD gasoline utility vehicle RTV-XG850 Sidekick will be raffled off on August 1, 2021. Winner need not be present to win. NCW executive board members will be selling tickets online and at local bull sales and agricultural events for $100 a ticket, with only 200 tickets being sold, which are excellent odds for winning. Contact any NCW executive board member or myself at (775) 385-3619 for more information.

Looking Toward 2021

I encourage everyone to take a break this holiday season and enjoy your family and friends, even if you have to at a distance using Zoom, Facetime, or just the telephone. Take this break because it is unknown what we will be facing in 2021. There is a vaccine, but it is going to take time to get it distributed. We also got at the 11th hour a new stimulus bill passed by Congress that should be signed by the President by the time you are reading this. The bill called the “Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021” provides for about $900 billion in stimulus relief and provides for a federal budget for the 2021 fiscal year. This passed the weekend before Christmas, and there is a lot of different things in the Act. One of the biggest things that everyone was hoping for is an extension of time to spend down the CARES Act funds. The Extension is in the Act, which provides a lot of relief for those trying to spend down CARES Act funds by the December 30, 2020 deadline. I host the Nevada Ag Outlook every month to discuss ag markets, Nevada economic and unemployment numbers, and assistance programs available to producers. Our next meeting is scheduled for January 27, 2021 at 10 a.m. via Zoom. Drop me a note at emms@unr.edu if you would Some earnings from the August Kubota raffle fundraiser will fund the Collegiate Beef Advocate and other youth programs. Ana Dagenhart, who has a strong passion for our beef industry, has been hard at work developing these new programs. Ana is very committed to getting Nevada’s youth involved in ag program and will be emailing Collegiate Beef Advocate forms to affiliates presidents. Past President Stacie Emm presented the Nominating Committee Report. The following names were voted to serve as the officer team of NCW until late fall of 2021. President, Melinda Sarman, Lamoille President-Elect, Maddison Bowers, Ruby Valley Vice President, Ana Dagenhart, Genoa Secretary, Keri Pommerening, Smith Valley Treasurer, Erin Costa, Carson Valley Parliamentarian, Janice Connley, Spring Creek Past President, Staice Emm, Schurz The meeting wrapped up with announcements from the president. The well-attended ANCW annual meetings held February 2020 in San Antonio, Texas were informative and educational. After shut downs hit, many meetings were held via zoom. The ANCW Annual Meeting has been set for August 8-12 in Nashville, TN. I am very delighted with our officer team. They have been truly amazing and have come up with great new concepts for NCW. They all have such a passion for the beef industry and Nevada agriculture. I am so very proud of what they do and what they contribute to CattleWomen.

Until next time, stay healthy and safe. like an invite to this meeting. We should know more about this second stimulus package and what funding is going where by the end of January. There is also one more program that I would like to highlight and that is the 2021 Cattlemen’s Update. This is the first time in several decades that our team from UNR will not be able to make our rural tour. We are holding the Cattlemen’s Update this year, it is just going to be virtual on January 12 -13, 2021. I encourage you all to attend and register for the webinar. There will be two days of events that highlight two-hour sections on Animal Health; Market Outlook; Meat Production, Slaughter and Processing; and Rangeland. You can see a more detailed agenda and sign up for the webinars at https://naes.unr.edu/cattlemens/ I encourage everyone to be hopeful in bringing in the new year. We know there are going to be struggles, but we also know we have each other. We will get through this together, by working together and supporting each other. Our lives have been changed forever. But, we must look to our future and find the opportunities and the blessings. The are there. We just need to recognize them.