Better Beef Sales Launched at Cattle Convention

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Beef Checkoff have partnered with Merck Animal Health to launch new online retail-training program for Better Beef Sales.

The need for more training of meat-counter employees became evident after Merck Animal Health conducted a series of consumer panels that revealed consumers identify the staff behind the counter as experts. “The consumer that goes to the retail store today still sees the person behind the counter in a white coat as the butcher and they expect them to have vast knowledge of the beef products they’re selling,” said Kyle Pfieffer with Merck Animal Health, who notes that the need for training was quickly confirmed during retailer discussions.

The Better Beef Sales program includes six video segments and takes about two hours total to complete. To learn more about the Better Beef Sales retail education program, visit www.beefretail.org.

Listen to Kyle’s comments, along with Melissa Tessitore and Trevor Amen of NCBA as they introduce “Better Beef Sales” on Wednesday at the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville: Better Beef Sales Introduction

Watch a YouTube video about the program below:

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Animal Health, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Livestock, NCBA, Video

NCBA Hoping for Permanent Dust Fix

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriculture won a few battles in the dust-up over farm dust regulation last year, but it remains to be seen who will win the war.

Farm dust regulation ranks high on the list of policy priorities for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in 2012, with the goal of getting the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act that was introduced last year passed by Congress and signed by the president. “The bill did pass the House of Representatives by a very commanding margin and very strong bi-partisan support,” said NCBA Deputy Environmental Counsel Ashley Lyon. “It is in the Senate and we are looking for ways to get a vote on this bill.”

Ashley says the big problem is that the president has already threatened to veto the bill. “The president continues to say that regulation of farm dust is a myth and he does not want any authority taken away from EPA,” she said. “It is not a myth, it is very real.”

The good news is that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said she plans to retain the current dust standard instead of doubling it as was proposed in some early rulemaking drafts. “But we still are pushing the legislation because it would be a permanent fix instead of just a five year fix,” said Ashely.

Listen to an interview with Ashley about farm dust here: Ashley Lyon interview

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Livestock, NCBA

Previewing Beef Board Activities

Chuck Zimmerman

To get a look at the work of the Beef Board during the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention I spoke with Polly Ruhland, CEO. Once again I’m the Beef Board Blogger and will be mostly posting on the CBB MyBeefCheckoffMeeting.com blog, something I’ve been doing since January of 2006!

Polly says there are two main governance issues being dealt with by special committees that were formed after last summer’s meeting. One of those is to review the by-laws. That special committee has presented changes to the Board and those will be voted on during the CBB Update session on Thursday. The other special committee focused on the joint committee structure and will be making recommendations during that same business session.

Get a full preview of Beef Board activities from Polly in my interview with her here: Interview with Polly Ruhland

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

Cattle Industry Conference Coverage

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello from the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention. The ZimmComm team is on location.

Thanks to Merial once again for sponsoring our great media room. Cindy and I are situated and comfortable as we shoot photos and collect interviews to share during coming days. I hope you enjoy it!

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Cattle Industry Conference

Gaylord Opryland Removes HSUS Video Plug

Chuck Zimmerman

This was a very surprising sight to Cattle Industry Convention attendees when they checked in to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It’s an image promoting the Humane Society of the United States, an organization very antagonistic to farming and animal agriculture in general. It has created quite a buzz on the floor. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that HSUS holds a large pet show here in May. To find out more I have emailed a request for response to the hotel but have not heard anything back at this point. I did notify NCBA and was just notified by their staff that the hotel has apologized for this oversight and has removed the “commercial” from all television screens, including the hotel bus. It is hoped that the hotel will make sure to not air this again in the future.

That was quick work by the NCBA issues management team and I applaud them for the effort. I also applaud the Gaylord for their decision and action to be sensitive to all their clients.

Animal Activists, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA, Wackos

We Need More Clean and Renewable Energy

Chuck Zimmerman

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “Do you agree with President Obama’s call for more clean (renewable) energy?” Overwhelmingly, the answer was Yes at 74%, however, there were 24% saying no. Feel free to comment on the reason for your choice.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What do you think about the proposed Egg Products Inspection legislation?” Let us know what you think. You can find the currently proposed House Bill here.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

ZimmPoll

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Merck Animal Health announced that it intends to centralize certain functions at the existing Merck Campus in Summit, New Jersey.
  • The Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation launched a new website.
  • DuPont and OligoCo have entered into a collaboration to develop new technology that could enable the intense use of synthetic biology to help feed a growing global population.
  • The Ohio AgriBusiness Association welcomes Angela Davis-Haines as Director of Communication and Member Education.
Zimfo Bytes

The Techie Talkers

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriblogger was one of the “techie talkers” at the first ever NCBA Communications workshop, organized by Mike Deering and Mary Geiger of the NCBA Washington staff, prior to the kick off of the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville Tuesday.

State cattle and beef organization staff involved in communications were invited to the workshop and about 40 from around the country attended. In addition to Chuck’s presentation on the latest tools of the trade for communicators, the tech talk segment of the workshop also featured Lauren Chase of the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA).

Lauren has been Multimedia Outreach Specialist for MSGA for less than a year and has already made a name for herself in the agricultural social media world. She graduated in 2010 from the University of Iowa with degrees in both journalism and anthropology and while she has no agriculture background, she has become a strong advocate for agriculture.

One of the social media moves she made for the MSGA last year was to take advantage of the fact that current NCBA president Bill Donald hails from Montana to make him into a YouTube spokesman for the beef industry. It helps that Bill is a colorful personality with a great sense of humor and that, combined with Lauren’s talent with a Flip camera and video editing software, created the YouTube video series “Bill on Beef” which airs weekly.

Here’s a sample of “Bill on Beef.”

Follow the Cattle Industry Convention on Twitter using the #CIC12 hashtag.

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA, Social Networking, Video

The Novus Triple S Bottom Line

Chuck Zimmerman

At the International Poultry Expo, Novus International announced a new enzyme “candidate,” the first from their collaboration with Verenium. I spoke with Gary Hayen, Global Business Director for the fermentation products division. Gary says that by bringing these two companies together they will bring a strength to the industry to bring solutions to their customers.

He says that because of the growing demand for feed enzymes there will be be nothing but increased demand for high quality and specialized products like those being worked on by the two companies. He says the collaboration with Verenium has helped Novus achieve a desire to diversify their product portfolio while meeting customer needs.

Listen to my interview with Gary here: Interview with Gary Hayen

Besides the new collaboration with Verenium, Novus is re-branding itself with what they’re calling the Triple S Bottom Line. To learn more about it I spoke with Dan Meagher, President for Global Animal Nutrition Solutions business unit. Dan says the goal is “really to align with our customers and our customer’s issues.” He says everything has to be focused on profitability and on sustainability.

Listen to my interview with Dan here: Interview with Dan Meagher

2012 International Poultry Expo Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 International Poultry Expo is sponsored by Novus International
Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

First NCBA Communications Workshop

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello from Nashville and the Cattle Industry Convention. Cindy and I had a very uneventful trip today and got some exercise finding our room. I don’t know about you but the Opryland Gaylord is not the easiest place to find rooms.

I’m attending the first ever NCBA Communications Workshop. This is a group made up of the communications staff at the various state organizations. We were welcomed by NCBA President-Elect, J.D. Alexander.

We’ve got both “experienced” and new to professional life attendees here. The program ranges from updates on different NCBA activities to social media (surprised?).

I’ll be conducting a workshop on using smartphones and mobile apps and have my bag full of goodies for show and tell time. We’re going to look at using your phone to record audio/video and take photos as well as manage and update social networking channels.

Don’t forget to follow along on Twitter using the #CIC12 hashtag.

And I’ve got a photo set started: 2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Cattle Industry Conference