Ron Hays talks with Heather Buckmaster of the Oklahoma Beef Council about her current trade mission to West Africa.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for us to educate future buyers for U.S. beef, and I think a lot of producers want to ask, ‘Why Africa?’” Buckmaster said.
She said the answer is easy, and it’s in the numbers. There are 1.2 billion consumers in Sub-Sahara Africa, and they have the youngest median age of any group of consumers in the world. This is valuable when considering that many established markets are seeing declining populations. Predictions indicate that by 2030, 1 in 4 people on the planet will be on the continent of Africa, where incomes are also growing.
“Most importantly, it is an opportunity for us to maximize the value of that carcass,” Buckmaster pointed out. “Due to cultural differences, let’s be honest, one of the things that makes the U.S. beef industry important is that it is so large.”
Sub-Saharan Africa is a region where the value of beef carcasses can be maximized because the residents enjoy U.S. beef variety meats and due to a large tourism industry, they also have a large demand for some of the higher value cuts.
The trade mission itself will include representatives of roughly fifty different companies that include both buyers and sellers. There will be two days of meetings, including trade insights from the various countries being represented. Buckmaster, along with her Oklahoma Beef Council leadership team, intends to explain the scope and complexities of U.S. Beef Production.
“I have the honor of talking about U.S. beef production from pasture to plate, so we will talk about the different segments of beef production – how we raise beef and the care in which we raise it with,” Buckmaster explained. “One of the things I’ve learned from this the last couple of times I have participated is that I just assume everybody knows what makes U.S. beef so good. I assume they know the grain feeding, but they don’t. So, it is really just an introduction: this is why our beef is so good. This is why we can guarantee eating experiences, and by the way, we can also deliver container loads of beef variety meats. So, we can really be that one-stop shop for them when it comes to purchasing beef.”
The group will also have the opportunity to tour markets, from modern grocery stores and wet markets and cold storage facilities.
Buckmaster agreed that developing trade relationships is a long-game effort as it takes time to develop them.
“I always think it is funny when someone tries U.S. beef for the very first time,” she said. “It always blows their mind, but we do have that opportunity. I have seen everything from frozen beef sinews being sold to U.S. beef tomahawk steaks being served at lunch, so there is definitely a diverse audience of consumers there. So, thankfully, in the United States, we can supply all of it.”
Learn more about the Beef Checkoff in Oklahoma by checking our Cattlemen’s Corner, available here. At the national level, check out DrivingDemandforDemand.Com.
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 at the top of the story for today’s show, and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
