Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with the Cargill Beef Sustainability Lead, Nick Hardcastle, about consumers’ desire for a high-quality beef product.
“It has pretty much shown over the past few years, we have increased grade year-over-year through Covid, and demand has flourished, in all honesty,” Hardcastle said.
Consumers have a taste for high-quality beef, Hardcastle said, which has created a standard for the future. Hardcastle also talked about his involvement in branded beef programs.
“I know we have at least ten sorts within our facility that specifically have some sort of quality value to them,” Hardcastle said. “Most of those sorts start breaking down in the Choice category. The reason being is that retailers, food service, like to have opportunity there to buy something that fits their specific program.”
A specific sorted program creates value, Hardcastle said, because it is seen as a guarantee of quality on the menu at restaurants or in the meat case.
“Sterling Silver is Cargill’s upper two-thirds Choice product,” Hardcastle said. “We actually promote that with a tenderness verification on it, so we only sell that beef if it meets a certain threshold for being a tender product.”
The difference between Sterling Silver and CAB, Hardcastle said, is that Sterling Silver is not just Angus cattle.
“Select is still always going to have a home because it is going to pop up at a high enough percentage, but the number of people who are actually looking for it to put in their meat case on a daily basis is fewer and far between,” Hardcastle said.
When harvest drops, Hardcastle said it will be a good test to see what the Select market looks like as well as the No-Roll category.
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