The Missouri Beef Industry Council has just kicked off a new program as I mentioned late last night called, “Speaking of Beef.” This program includes preparing volunteer producers for public speaking on key issues important to their industry and then helping schedule them to speak to local civic groups statewide. It’s just another way for beef producers to connect with people who are far removed from the farm.

As we talked about in our first training session yesterday, there are so many people today who have never been on a farm, touched an animal like a cow, or seen how they’re cared for that it’s not surprising they have so many misconceptions and ideas about rural life. There’s a big need for public education and a personal approach from someone who’s part of their community is one of the best ways to foster understanding.

To help the program participants we worked with the MBIC staff to develop a resource notebook which includes: pre-written speeches on 6 key issues (printed and saved electronically on CD), notecards for each speech, basic information about public speaking and media interviewing, a list of potential questions they will be asked and suggested answers. The volunteers will personalize each talk with anecdotes about their life and farm. They will also receive a supply of handout materials for their presentation as well as items to be used for a drawing after their talk. We’re contacting Rotary, Optimist and Kiwanis clubs as well as local Chambers of Commerce to see if they’d like to schedule in one of our speakers.

It’s a great program and we’ve already got more volunteers on a list for the next training session after we get this first group going. I’ll tell you what. These are some of my favorite people and I know they’ll be a big hit with whatever crowd they get to speak in front of!