The activity is picking up here at the Cattle Industry Convention. More media are showing up in the news room and I’ve been doing a little Beef Board Blogging. I think that from a Beef Board perspective the financial outlook is really the main conversation in the hallway and meetings I’ve sat in on so far.
This morning I interviewed both Dan Dierschke, Treasurer and Lynn Heinze, Executive Director of Communications for CBB.
Dan says they’re finding that collections are down considerably from expectations. He says that after looking at all the data available they’ve concluded that revenue will be down about $2.5 million. So, he says they’ve chosen to cut the current budget to compensate rather than move forward on a deficit basis. He does want producers to keep in mind that even with a pessimistic financial outlook there are still a lot of dollars being spent in support of Checkoff programs that are attempting to raise demand for their product.
You can listen to my interview with Dan here: cic-09-dierschke.mp3
Lynn discussed the new producer attitude survey in which he says that the survey shows that the current economic situation is impacting a lot of people. He says that support for the Checkoff has drifted down a little but that still almost 7 out of 10 producers know about and approve of the Checkoff. More importantly he says, the survey shows that producers continue to feel that the Checkoff has contributed to the overall advancement of the industry and to their bottom lines.
You can listen to my interview with Lynn here: cic-09-heinze-survey.mp3