Thank you once again to Merial for not only sponsoring the media room at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference but also our media reception. It’s a very nice opportunity to meet in a relaxed social atmosphere without having to “work.” Pictured is Daren Williams, NCBA, welcoming us and thanking our sponsor. We have a great group of ag media folks …
Issues Facing Cattle Industry
The NCBA President Elect is Bill Donald from Montana. He’s pictured here speaking with CBB Vice Chairman, Tom Jones. I talked with Bill about the issues facing cattle producers. Bill says there are several issues. They include the death tax, the GIPSA rules and the decline of the U.S. cattle herd. Some of these are more time sensitive than others …
Fine Dining At The Fort
It’s nice to talk about something other than “the issue” here at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. It has sure dominated discussion and I sincerely hope “the issue” can be worked out amicably and soon for the benefit of everyone in the beef industry. If you’re wondering what I’m referring to then check my earlier posts from this morning. So, …
Beef Board Chairman Describes Summer Conference Work
The Chairman of the Beef Board is Dan Dierschke (pictured left). He welcomed new members of the Board at a luncheon for them to get to know each other. Experienced Board members are assigned as mentors to new members and they were there too. After the meal I spoke with Dan about this year’s summer meeting. He says the most …
CBB Perspective On NCBA Compliance Review
In order to get some perspective from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on the NCBA Compliance Review issue I spoke with CBB Secretary/Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. Here’s Robert with Charlotte Coates, CBB Operations Manager. You can read CBB’s statement on the review here. In my interview with Robert he describes why the audit was conducted and why it was released on …
NCBA Press Conference On CBB Audit
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Board just concluded a press conference on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board independent account’s report that audited NCBA use of Beef Checkoff funds. This report was released earlier this week. There is obviously a lot of friction right now between the organizations and media were given an opportunity to hear NCBA’s side of the story this morning. …
Meet New AAEA and LPC Presidents
In this week’s program we’ll get to meet the new Presidents of the American Agricultural Editors Association and Livestock Publications Council. They’re both Missouri boys! First up is Steven Fairchild, MFA Incorporated. I asked him what his goals are for his year in office and he wants to focus on membership since increasing membership is a key goal of the …
Get To Know Golden ARC Awards
The Agricultural Relations Council, Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager is Amy McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications. She put together a really good contest and is already working on the next one. I spoke with her about the awards program so we get a better understanding of what these awards are for, how they are judged and what to look for in …
Last Post From Nanjing
Zachary Larson, Borlaug Summer Intern, is on location at Nanjing Agricultural University and providing us with updates this summer of his trip. Here’s his latest. You can also find a photo album he’s got started here: Borlaug Summer Intern Photo Album. The internship is being sponsored by the Iowa State University Plant Sciences Institute. I predicted correctly that this last …