CATTLE RAISERS COMMUNITY
INDUSTRY NEWS
State of the Texas Beef Council
By Richard Wortham, Texas Beef Council executive vice president
L
OOKING BACK ON THE BEEF CHECKOFF PROGRAM IN TEXAS over the last 27 years, these words come to mind: ever-changing.
Our industry has seen many successes due to the
hard work and commitment of the dedicated farmers and ranchers in Texas. Along with those successes, our industry continues
to face challenges such as misleading claims about beef and cattle, an increasingly aggressive animal rights movement, a growing Texas population, a declining cattle herd due to drought and record high retail beef prices. Competition for the consumer dollar is keen. In 27 years, the thing that has not changed is the
beef checkoff assessment at $1 per head. It’s easy to recognize the shrinking beef checkoff
budget in Texas. Every lost dollar is a lost opportunity to reach consumers. Many checkoff investors have asked how the checkoff dollar — shrunken by infl ation and by lower cattle numbers — has affected the demand- building programs conducted by the Texas Beef Council (TBC) on behalf of Texas producers. We’ve been asked which program areas could use additional funding if it were available.
Understanding the “new normal” To answer those questions, we have to evaluate
22 The Cattleman March 2014
and understand a “new normal” for checkoff revenue. We must focus on the very most important infl uenc-
ers among consumers and based on that begin to cull the least productive programs just as you have done with your cattle herds. I’m going to share a few examples of how declining
checkoff revenue is changing your checkoff programs and the opportunities that accompany those changes. Foreign marketing The TBC board of directors has historically recog-
nized the value of checkoff investments in international market development. Foreign marketing for U.S. beef continues to pay off with export values year-to-date (January-November 2013) reaching $5.61 billion, an 11 percent increase over last year’s pace and already ahead of the 2012 year-end total, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). The export value per-head of fed slaughter cattle in November 2013 was $267.36 — that means an average of about $170 is added to the per head value of the cow-calf producer’s 550-pound steer or heifer. There are several opportunities to enhance export
efforts. TBC works with USMEF to conduct promotions and trainings in Japan, Central and South America, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Russia and Greater Region (CIS) and the Caribbean markets.
MORE
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