News Update
April 3, 2009

BIF Registration Deadline Nears

Planning on attending the Beef Improvement Federation’s (BIF’s) Annual Research Symposium and Annual Meeting April 30-May 3 in Sacramento, Calif.? Make hotel reservations today for the lowest rate!

Visit www.bifconference.com for a schedule and expanded speaker information, as well as information on registration and accommodations.

Plans Announced for ’09 LEAD Conference

Young Angus enthusiasts will want to mark their calendars and register early for the 2009 Leaders Engaged in Angus Development (LEAD) Conference. This year’s event, “The Golden Gate to Opportunity” is set for Aug. 6-9 in San Francisco, Calif., and will showcase California’s diverse agricultural setting while building leadership and interpersonal skills.

The LEAD program is developed by the National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) Board of Directors for NJAA members 14-21 to build future leaders. This year’s LEAD Conference includes workshops that will enhance the attendees’ awareness on industry issues in areas of selection tools like expected progeny differences (EPDs) and dollar value ($Value) indexes and how to be an advocate for animal agriculture. In addition, the ever-popular game-show format will test the group’s industry knowledge, and life-skills will be taught through a dance workshop.

Tours of California’s agricultural diversity — including Angus ranches, a dairy, and an almond plant — are also on the schedule.  Vintage Angus, Silveira Bros, and Schnoor Sisters are the Angus herds that will be visited. In addition, tours of the San Francisco Bay area, including stops at the Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf are slated.

Motivational speakers will kick-off and conclude LEAD. Making his LEAD debut is Justin Lookadoo, a Texas native, who will challenge the group to find their purpose. Scott Vernon, San Luis Obispo, Calif., will return to LEAD, and has been popular in the past by challenging groups to think outside the box.

LEAD participation is limited, and early registration is encouraged. The early registration fee for NJAA members is only $200, if received by June 15, and includes lodging (4 per room), meals and bus transportation. After June 15, registration is $225, based on space availability. Registration for adults — advisors and chaperones — is $250 and includes double occupancy lodging. Registration forms are in the green junior entry packet that was mailed in January or registration is also available online at www.njaa.info. For more information, contact the Junior Activities Department at 816-383-5100.

LEAD is funded in part through the Angus Foundation each year, and is a program of the NJAA, which provides programs for nearly 7,000 active members across the nation.

— Release provided by the American Angus Association.

Inspectors Say Food is Hard to Trace

Federal inspectors who conducted a survey to identify gaps in the nation’s food traceability system told a House subcommittee yesterday that they managed to trace only 5 of 40 products through the full production and distribution chain and that some food facilities didn’t know they needed to keep source contact information, according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).

The House Appropriations Committee reportedly requested the traceability report, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG). Daniel Levinson, the HHS inspector general, presented the 38-page report, which appears on the HHS web site, at www.hhs.gov.

The OIG recommended six ways the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could improve food traceability, including:

• Seek statutory authority, if warranted, to strengthen records requirements regarding lot-specific information, and extending the requirement to facilities not now subject to them.
  
• Consider requiring food facilities to strengthen traceability through various methods, such as using certain technology to improve recordkeeping.
  
• Work with the food industry to develop traceability guidance.
  
• Address the issue of mixing raw foods from multiple sources.
  
• Obtain authority to verify compliance with FDA record requirements during food facility inspections.
• Work to educate the food industry about the records requirements.
  

— Information provided by CIDRAP.

Beef Checkoff Hosts Protein Webinars

Emerging research suggests high-quality protein plays an increasingly important role in muscle maintenance, weight management, and disease prevention such as sarcopenia (involuntary decline in muscle mass associated with aging), type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. With the overweight/obesity epidemic growing and baby boomer generation aging, the benefits of high-quality protein have never been more critical.

To address this issue, the beef checkoff has coordinated a series of protein webinars to educate health professionals across the country. These thought-provoking and interactive educational webinars about the Power of Protein in Optimal Health are geared toward dietitians and other health professionals nationwide. Attendees are able to hear from leading protein experts who share their latest scientific research on the role of protein on several health outcomes.

In October 2008, the beef checkoff coordinated the first of these webinars in conjunction with the Florida Beef Council. On March 24, the checkoff hosted a second protein webinar in conjunction with state beef councils in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

A third protein webinar is planned in conjunction with the several Eastern State Beef Councils (Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut) in May, and the checkoff will continue to work with other state beef councils to host regional protein webinars throughout 2009.

For more information about checkoff-funded programs, visit www.MyBeefCheckoff.com.

— Adapted from a release provided by CBB.

Movie to Focus on “Corporate Agriculture”

A motion picture titled “Food Inc.” set to debut in June claims to reveal the “truths” about production practices in what it calls “corporate agriculture,” Drovers reports.

According to Drovers, the film is from Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Robert Kenner. It is billed as a “documentary.”

Beef Profitability Conference May 19-20 at Richland

Beef producers can learn about ways to survive and be profitable at a conference scheduled for May 19-20 at the Shiloh Inn in Richland, Wash.

Titled “How to Survive and Be Profitable in the Beef Business: Planned Grazing and Grass-fed Beef Production,” the event features nationally known speakers along with Washington ranchers and Washington State University (WSU) researchers who will share their knowledge and experiences on the following topics:

• profitable alternatives to Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) involving planned grazing;
  
• a user-friendly rangeland monitoring system;
  
• grass-fed beef production;
  
• feasibility of building a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-inspected mobile slaughter facility;
  
• planned ultra-high stock density grazing;
  
• pre- and post-harvest factors affecting the quality and consistency of grass-fed beef; and
  
• a systems approach to ranching.
  

Ample time will be provided for audience interaction with speakers.

Visit www.capps.wsu.edu/grazing for information and to register. Registration, at $205 per person, will be limited to 175. Additional members from the same family or business can register for $175.

— Release provided by WSU.

— Compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.