News Update
May 8, 2009

BIF Coverage Continues …

The following is just part of the coverage recently added to www.bifconference.com:

• Pioneer Award Presented to Bruce Golden, professor and head of the dairy science department at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo, Calif.
  
  
• Roy McPhee, McPhee Red Angus, Posthumously Honored with BIF Pioneer Award
  
  
• Pioneer Award Presented to Hereford Breeder Bruce Orvis, Orvis Cattle Co., Farmington, Calif.
  

Updated photo galleries are also available at www.bifconference.com, including:

• Five Star Land & Livestock Angus Ranch — Breakfast & Tour
  
• Rancho Murietta/Murietta Equine Complex — Tour & Cutting Horse Demonstration
  
• Trinchero Family Estates Winery — Tour, Wine Tasting & Lunch
  
• Duane Martin & Son, Martin Livestock — Tour
  
• California State Railroad Museum — Tour
  
• 2009 BIF General Photo Gallery
  

Johanns: USDA Too Focused on Organic

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), former secretary of agriculture, recently told members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB), he encouraged continued pursuit of trade agreements and suggested the current administration might be overemphasizing organic agriculture at the expense of conventional production, according to Drover’s Alert. For more information visit http://www.kolnkgin.com/political/headlines/44025952.html.

May is Beef Month

Missouri Beef Industry Council Executive Director John Kleiboeker says May was chosen as the month to celebrate beef many years ago because it’s a great time of the year for both producers and consumers of beef.

“The grass starts greening up and cattle go out to pasture and producers enjoy that,” Kleiboeker said. “And the weather starts warming up so we start thinking about summer grilling as Memorial Day later in the month is the traditional kick off of summer grilling season.”

It also gives beef producers the opportunity to point out just how important the industry is to Missouri. “We are the third largest cow-calf production state in the nation and sixth in total cattle numbers,” Kleiboeker said.  About half of the state’s agricultural revenue is derived from livestock, and nearly half of that is from beef cattle production.

Getting information out to the general public about the importance of agriculture and the industry’s commitment to Missouri communities is the goal of the Lunch and Learn programs, which the beef industry council sponsors with the rest of the state’s agricultural organizations.  This is the third year for this program and Kleiboeker says the series for 2009 will be kicking off during May Beef Month at a cattle operation in Warsaw.

“One of the key things we are going to be emphasizing this year is our dedication to stewardship, animal well being and taking care of the natural resources that go hand in hand with production agriculture,” Kleiboeker said.

More information about the Missouri beef cattle industry and beef in general can be found at www.mobeef.org.

— Release provided by the Missouri Beef Industry Council.

Checkoff Hones in on Beef Safety

More than 160 people from the beef industry, including farmers and ranchers, harvest operations, processors, restaurants and retailers attended the Beef Industry Safety Summit in March in San Diego, Calif. The Summit, partially funded by the beef checkoff, first took place in 2003, and has since emerged as the most important meeting of the year for the beef industry to come together to assess, discuss and identify solutions to beef safety challenges.

The Summit allowed for retailers and foodservice operators to attend special workshops on beef safety; provided updates on the latest beef safety research developments, including results from checkoff-funded beef safety research; hosted technical sessions on recall preparedness, regulatory compliance, designing a safe ground beef patty; and featured a roundtable session for safety communicators.

“This event brings together a cross-section of the industry to discuss the safety challenges faced in each sector of the beef industry,” says farmer/feeder Mark Riechers, Cattlemen’s Beef Board member from Darlington, Wis., and vice chair of the industry’s Joint Beef Safety Committee. “The Summit is a key opportunity for industry leaders to hear the latest science funded with producer’s checkoff dollars, and it provides direction for future research needs, outreach opportunities and dissemination projects.”

As a part of the 2009 Summit, the checkoff also conducted research to benchmark consumer opinion of beef industry safety efforts. Highlights from the study include:

• Consumers are concerned about food safety:  69% of consumers say they believe the number of food recalls and foodborne illnesses is on the rise. That’s up from 49% in November 2008.
  
• One quarter of consumers surveyed indicated they are more concerned about food safety than they were six months ago.
  
• When asked specifically about the beef industry’s efforts to improve beef safety, 81% agreed that the entire beef industry — from farmers and ranchers to processors and retailers — is working to provide consumers with safe, wholesome food.
  
• 78% of consumers agreed that safeguards developed by beef-industry scientists have made ground beef safer than ever.
  
• 77% agreed that the beef industry uses cutting edge science and technological innovations to improve beef safety continually.

In recent beef safety efforts, the USDA announced conditional approval of an E. coli O157:H7 vaccine. This vaccine, the first approved in the United States to reduce E. coli O157:H7 shedding in cattle, is a major milestone for beef safety efforts.

“We must recognize the need for several pre-harvest interventions to accommodate a very diverse industry, and I’m very pleased that the USDA has found this vaccine to be a safe and effective tool for producers. Beef checkoff research has played an important role in identifying these opportunities to control E. coli and has helped advance the science supporting pre-harvest intervention technologies,” Riechers continues. “This vaccine is one of many such technologies currently in development. This and other pre-harvest technologies have the potential to improve beef safety by reducing pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 early in the production process, before an animal reaches the harvest stage.”

For more information visit www.MyBeefCheckoff.com.

— Provided by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB).

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