AgWired

To be an ambassador you’ve got to be passionate about your subject. These ladies are definitely that.

Pictured are (left-right) Carol Abrahamzon, ANCW, project manager from Minnesota, Joann Strom, South Dakota, Londa Johnson, Minnesota, Amanda Rankin, California and Christie Molinaro, Pennsylvania.

I asked them what it means to be a beef ambassador and what they do.

One of their most memorable experiences included getting to meet President Bush in Washington, DC. Another one was distributing beef samples at the Dover International Speedway during a Nascar Race.

Listen to my interview with the Beef Ambassadors here (6 min.): cisc-07-ambassador.mp3

The executive committee of the Beef Board is already at work here in Denver. They get together to make sure everything is in order before everyone else arrives at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. At their lunch meeting I spoke with CBB chairman, Ken Stielow. He provides us with an overview of the conference from the Checkoff perspective.

Ken says that they’re going to be BUSY. For one thing he says they’ll get to see a new set of creative advertising that’s being proposed. That’s going to take some time and thought. Although it’s fun to see the new ideas he says they take it very seriously since there is a big responsibility to spend Checkoff dollars wisely.

Ken says that while the Beef Board is meeting the dairy checkoff organization will also be meeting. He says this will provide an opportunity for better support and understanding on the part of dairy producers. He’s also hoping that by meeting together they’ll find some synergy in some of the promotional efforts each organization is working on.

Listen to my interview with Ken here (4 min.): cisc-07-stielow.mp3

The masters of the media room are Joe Schuele and Grace Webb. Once again they’re setting up for the media. This time at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference.

Things don’t really get cranked up until tomorrow but us bloggers are on the scene early (actually I’m the only one here at the moment). I interviewed Joe and Grace as they were working. You can tell that they’ve already lost too much sleep and we’ve got a long way to go. However, I did get some serious comments out of them during the interview.

Joe says that some of the issues being discussed here this week include the farm bill and energy bill since both will have an impact on the pocket books of cattlemen of which he expects about 1,000 to be here during the conference. Grace says they’re expecting about 35 to 40 media representatives.

Here’s my interview with the media room masters: cisc-07-media-room.mp3