Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with the current Chief Executive Officer of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Greg Hanes. Hanes and Hays talk about the latest Cattlemen’s Beef Board efforts.
With tighter supplies and higher prices due to lower stocks, and exchange rate headwinds, Hanes said demand has remained strong.
“If you look domestically, we have got some of the new marketing campaigns playing on the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. that are going to be launching here this summer as we are starting grilling season,” Hanes said.
Part of the marketing, Hanes said, involves linking a person’s daily eating experience as a special occasion each day.
“Demand is still at record levels even with tighter supplies and a little higher prices,” Hanes said.
As times are constantly changing, Hanes said there is an ongoing effort to research and stay ahead of consumer trends and wants.
“We have the National Beef Quality Audit that is just being wrapped up now, and we are getting those initial results,” Hanes said. “This is really useful information to help drive the industry on how we can improve the quality of the product for the consumers. On the quality side, it seems like we are doing pretty good, but it is interesting to see that some of the issues that are showing up are more on kind of the people side like the handling and things like that.”
Hanes also talked about how the focus of the NBQA has changed over recent years, as consumers are wanting to know more about the beef product and how it is produced each year.
“Producers have done a really good job of adopting this and putting those practices into place, which has really helped, but what we are seeing is consumers always want to know more and more,” Hanes said.
Producers have an increased concern for how animals are handled and knowing more about who is raising them, Hanes said, so now is a good opportunity for the beef industry to step up and show the producer their story.
“Using this as a method with corporations so they can see what the producers are doing, and directly to those consumers, so it is that kind of BQA quality seal…” Hanes said.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
