MOBeef Update

Here’s a look at some beef farmers from Missouri! These folks are part of the Missouri Beef Industry Council Board and have spent the past two days meeting to decide the plans for this coming fiscal year. They’ve been sitting through presentations from a number of representatives of consumer information projects they fund or are considering. This is one of the many ways farmers invest their time and efforts to improve agriculture, and the food on our tables.

Many of these folks will be heading to Denver in two weeks for the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. They’ll be involved in committee work on the national level, putting Checkoff dollars to work to improve and promote beef!

The Missouri Beef Industry Council board this week got a tour of “Hard Work U” – which is the very appropriate nickname for the College of the Ozarks.

Nestled in the Ozarks just below Branson, this 100 year old school is home to 1500 students who live, work and play there. It is a classic liberal arts college with a variety of majors, including culinary arts and agriculture. Tuition is paid for in sweat – all students are required to work on campus to pay for their degree. The school has a beautiful lodge and restaurant, which is open to the public, and various working agricultural operations.

You can find out more about the college by listening to the MBIC podcast in the previous post. And you can see all the photos from the tour online in this Flickr photo album.

One of the highlights of the tour was a culinary demonstration and gourmet lunch prepared by college Chef Robert Stricklin. The menu included Cranberry Cinnamon Biscuits, Pear and Feta Cheese salad with Baby Greens, Braised Short Rib Shank with roasted vegetables and rosemary jus, Black Walnut Coffee Toffee Ice Cream made by the students. Chef Stricklin made his five star gourmet entree look amazingly easy to prepare in his short demonstration, which you can view below:

Kendal Frazier with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is on the road this year meeting with beef cattle organizations around the country who are part of the state and national Federation of State Beef Councils partnership to help them take an objective look at the challenges and opportunities facing their industry. “It’s very important to have a plan of work so you can prioritize,” Kendal said. “It gets everybody on the same page.”

Last week, Kendal spent a day with the board members and staff of the Missouri Beef Industry Council, identifying some of the major threats facing the industry and ways they might be able to address them, both internally and externally. The two top threats identified were animal activism and negative media publicity.

The meeting identified significantly more opportunities than threats, however. Topping the list for opportunities, both within the industry and externally, was new media. Kendal says there are two ways the industry can use new media tools such as blogging, podcasting, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. “Number one is to deliver a proactive message through a different channel. The other way is to correct misinformation that is out there. We have to be participating on the Internet and we can do that on both a proactive and a reactive basis,” Kendal said.

This group shot of the Missouri Beef Industry Council board of directors was taken at the recent meeting in Springfield held in conjunction with the MCA convention.

From left to right, they are:
Chris Cloud of Carthage (Region 4), John Redman of Amity (Region 1), Jim Freeman of Salem (Region 3), Gerald Campbell of Licking (Region 3), Kevin Frankenbach of Hannibal (MO Dairy Assn.), Sally Angell of Centralia (Region 2), Andy Cloud of Carthage (at large), James Rickman of Stockton (Chairman, Region 4), Leon James of Hurdland (Region 2), Matt Reynolds of Huntsville (at large) and Pat Wood of LaMonte (Region 1). Not pictured – John Browning of Palmyra (MO Livestock Marketing Assn.)

These are YOUR representatives who make decisions on YOUR behalf using YOUR checkoff dollars. Please feel free to contact them at any time to provide your input.

The safety of our nation’s food supply starts on the farm, but it may not be something that all producers think about.

That’s why Dr. Carol Lorenzen with the University of Missouri is helping get the word out to producers about things they can do to improve our Food Defense system. Some are as simple as making sure gates are locked or putting up no trespassing signs – but they could make a big difference.

Not only could they help deter would-be food terrorists, they could also help producers defend against cattle rustlers or people who just don’t like animal agriculture.

Learn more from Carol in this week’s Missouri Beef Industry Council report.

You can hear the report here: MBIC Report 12-17-08 (5 min MP3)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

On the agenda for the Missouri Beef Industry Council board meeting last week in Springfield was honoring one of the MBIC staff for a decade of service. Lovely and talented Ada Gallup is pictured here with MBIC chairman James Rickman.

Ada has the distinction of being the most tenured member of the MBIC staff and she has the all-important job of business manager – she pays the bills! She was honored to be recognized by the board with a plaque commemorating her 10 years of loyal service and says she is very blessed to have a job that she enjoys, working with and for the great people in Missouri’s beef industry.

Thanks for all you do, Ada!

The Missouri Beef Industry Council board meeting is underway here in Springfield, MO.

Your leaders are on the job.

Pictured is board chairman, Andrew McCrea, (left) and executive director, John Kleiboeker.

They’re listening to a report being given during a working breakfast.

Along with cattlemen from all over the state, the MBIC board is meeting at the Missouri Cattle Industry Convention.