SHARING THE GOOD WORD ABOUT BEEF Foothills group seeks to make COOL issue national By Marcus Traxler S outh D ak ota Farm and R anch
W
ESSINGTON SPRINGS — The Foothills Cattle Producers are making inroads in South Dakota, letting people know about the issues facing “Cattle Country.” Now, they’re looking to broaden their message and take it national. The group, which started gathering informally in late 2019 and consists of cattle ranchers and advocates in South Dakota and around the region, is in the process of shooting a television commercial that it intends to have air in regions of the country that have not had politicians supporting mandatory country of origin labeling legislation in Washington, D.C. Their message is to make people aware of the economic impact of beef cattle in the United States and re-introduce mandatory COOL, as it is known. Their group’s momentum is building, said Phil Wipf, of Wessington Springs, who is the Foothills group’s president.“We’ve got a lot of support from around South Dakota and around the country.
This is our livelihood,” Wipf said. “This is cattle country and farm country, and we need to show how much that matters to us.” In late May, about a dozen adults and as many kids gathered for the commercial shoot, which took place in the town’s City Park. The commercial involves a family gathering for a picnic and eating hamburgers and discusses the importance of understanding where your food comes from. Three generations of Wipf’s family were all involved with the filming of the commercial. The Foothills group has worked closely with U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., to understand which members of the Senate should be targeted regarding spreading the word about beef. Rounds introduced a bill in October that prohibits the label of cattle meat from bearing the phrase “Product of U.S.A.” unless such meat product is exclusively derived from one or more cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the United States.
Mar cus T r ax ler / S o uth D ak o ta F ar m
an d Ran ch
From left, N atalie B artel, her three- year- old daughter E mersyn and father Phil Wipf participate in the filming of a commercial at the W essington S prings C ity Park on M ay 2 0 , 2 0 2 0 . T he commercial is intending to show the family importance in beef production.
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