In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays features comments with USMEFs, Jimmy Taylor, a western Oklahoma cattle producer, former chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion Board, and current ex officio member of the Oklahoma Beef Council. Taylor highlighted the strong value USMEF delivers for producers. He emphasized that the organization is “doing an exceptional job in representing the U.S. cattle producer,” especially when it comes to building export demand for American beef.
Taylor stressed that producers can clearly see the return on their Beef Checkoff investment through USMEF’s work. “For every dollar invested, it returns $13.41,” he said, noting that if you look specifically at the portion directed to USMEF, “it comes out to over $20.” Over the past few years alone, he said the economic impact “has added over $400 per fed head,” a lift that “really affects their bottom line.” Without USMEF’s efforts, Taylor added, “those fat cattle that sell would be worth $400 less.”
Drawing on his time as chairman of the Beef Promotion Board, Taylor recalled traveling with USMEF to Japan and Korea to see the programs in action. “You can see the impact that those checkoff dollars are making there,” he said. He described a memorable outreach event in Tokyo where “approximately 30 bloggers” learned to cook U.S. steaks, even preparing the meal for attendees. “They were very proud of their efforts,” Taylor said, noting that stories from the bloggers went online the same night—an example of how checkoff dollars support market development.
Taylor acknowledged some challenges in the current global market, especially regarding China. “A little bit of a headwind with China,” he said, noting that the ongoing government shutdown has delayed export reporting. “We were down in July… about 8% year over year,” he explained, but added that “if you take China out of the mix, we were down about a percent.” Despite tariffs and uncertainty, he emphasized that consumers abroad “really enjoy our product and look more for the quality than the pricing.”
Taylor remains a strong advocate for the value of U.S. beef exports and the role USMEF plays in expanding global demand. As he put it, “I’m very optimistic on where exports are at this time.”
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.
