CENTENNIAL, CO — The long-range strategic planning process for the beef industry is underway, a process that takes months to coordinate and pulls together key leaders from all over the country representing different sectors of the beef business.
THE BEEF INDUSTRY LONG RANGE PLAN
Updated every five years, the Beef Industry Long Range Plan is the standard by which the beef industry focuses on one strategic direction, identifying key areas to advance beef demand.
Since 1995, industry leaders have gathered to develop an aligned, comprehensive plan with the goal of increasing consumer demand for beef. These leaders are brought together to study and compile major areas of opportunity facing beef for the next five years. The current plan, in place since 2016, focuses on increasing beef demand in four key areas:
- Driving growth in beef exports
- Protecting and enhancing the business and political climate for beef
- Growing consumer trust in beef and beef production
- Promoting and strengthening beef’s value proposition
The newly appointed committee will begin convening over the next several months and will consider all aspects of the industry from production trends, economic factors, foreign markets, consumer trends, and the competitive climate. The group will evaluate the current plan and determine, based on industry trends and insights, where the industry should maintain and/or shift focus over the next five years.
THE 2020 BEEF INDUSTRY LONG RANGE PLAN TASK FORCE
The new plan, which will be effective from 2021 through 2025, will be developed by a group of leaders representing key beef segments from across the industry. This Long Range Plan Task Force will be led by Kim Brackett, owner/operator of Brackett Ranches, a cow-calf and stocker operation in Idaho. “Having helped develop our current long-range plan, I was encouraged with how it has been embraced by the industry, especially by Checkoff committees,” said Brackett. “Our new plan will be researched and fashioned with as much care, and I’m sure be received with as much enthusiasm.”
The balance of the task force includes individuals devoted to ensuring the long-term success of the beef industry.
- Keith Belk, Department Head of Animal Science, Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)
- Tim Brady, Director of Risk Management at Agri Beef packing (Boise, ID)
- Donnell Brown, Owner/Manager of R.A. Brown Ranch (Throckmorton, TX)
- John Butler, CEO the Beef Marketing Group, feeder (Manhattan, KS)
- Paul Defoor, Co-CEO at Cactus Feeders, Inc. (Amarillo, TX)
- Joe Goggins, Auction Market/Seedstock (Billings, MT)
- Ken Griner, President of Usher Land & Timber, Inc., cow/calf and seedstock (Chiefland, FL)
- Mary Kraft, Dairy Owner/Operator (Fort Morgan, CO)
- Jon Lowe, Sr. VP, Cattle & Equine Business, Zoetis animal health (Parsippany, NJ)
- Dean Meyer, Farmer/Feeder (Rock Rapids, IA)
- William Rishel, Rishel Ranch, seedstock (Lincoln, NE)
- Suzy Strassburger, President, Strassburger Steaks, LLC, a specialty meat purveyor (Carlstadt, NJ)
- Jerry Wulf, Partner/Advisor Wulf Cattle, seedstock (Hancock, MN)
HOW THE BEEF INDUSTRY LONG RANGE PLAN IS USED
The Beef Checkoff, its committees and contracting organizations, use the Long Range Plan as their guidebook. All funding decisions and focus areas of Checkoff projects and programs, by design, must follow the key areas outlined in the plan that align with Checkoff budget categories: promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, producer communication and foreign marketing. To ensure this focus, each year Checkoff committees continue to renew their alignment by identifying key plan initiatives as their priorities. Checkoff contractors take this direction and develop Checkoff-funded programs in support of those priorities.
The coordination of these meetings and processes is handled operationally through a joint effort between the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The task force will analyze its research and findings over the next months, with a goal of presenting the new plan to Cattlemen’s Beef Board members and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Board of Directors for approval at the industry’s annual business meeting in Denver the week of July 27, 2020.
Visit DrivingDemandForBeef.com to read the current full and abbreviated versions of the Beef Industry Long Range Plan.
