A3B-Lancast«r Fanning, Saturday, October 28,1989
New Dairy Promotion Strategy For The ’9os
BY PAT PURCELL
WILLOW STREET (Lancaster
Co.) —“We are working together,
trusting one another and sharing
the same agenda to prevent the
duplication of efforts through the
coordination of dairy promotion
programs,” said Cynthia Carson
speaking at the annual meeting of
the Middle Atlantic Milk Market
ing Association (MAMMA) held
earlier this week in southern Lan
caster County.
Carson, Chief Executive Officer
of the National Dairy Board since
January of this year, speaking of
thenewly formed Strategic Mark
eting Alliance (SMA), said, ‘The
alliance has already pulled
together the dairy industry which
will increase the power around
each organization to assure us that
we get the most out of each mark
eting dollar.”
The SMA is the union of dairy
promotion groups to determine the
best strategy to narrow the gap
between dairy production and
dairy product consumption.
“The dairy industry is in transi
tion from being a commodity dri
ven industry to a market driven
industry,” said Carson. “I under
stand that the dairy industry cannot
be completely market driven
because we do have a product
However, we need to focus our
efforts on how we can best find
markets for our product and which
of our products can best accomo
date the needs of the consumer.”
“We must understand consumer
atttitudes towards dairy products.
Our consumer testing has told us
that with consumers fat is now
equal to salt as the top nutritional
concern,” explained Carson. “It is
important to be market oriented
Strause Named Beef Representative
BY VAL VANTASSEL
Berks Co. Correspondent
HAMBURG (Berks Co.)
The Berks County Cattleman’s
Association celebrated two firsts
on October 20 at R. John’s Olde
Haus Restaurant. For the first time
in the group’s seven-year history
they held a banquet meeting and
they chose their first beef industry
representative.
Alice Strauss, daughter of Har
old and Marie Strauss, Hamburg
R.D. 2, will help the association
promote beef during in-store
demonstrations the local fairs and
festivals for the next year.
Alice, a sophomore at Hamburg
Area High School, is the president
and an eight-year member of the
Berks 4-H Beef Club. She also
belongs to the 4-H sheep and
swine clubs and recently joined
the Hamburg Area FFA. For the
last three years she has had the
reserve champion at the 4-H Beef
Roundup and this year exhibited
the grand champion market steer
at the Oley Fair. Strauss hopes to
enter the medical field while con
tinuing to farm on the side.
Gerry Gammel, Womelsdorf,
will be serving as Strauss’ advisor.
After a delicious dinner featur
ing prime rib* 40 association
members in attendance got some
good news from Pennsylvania
Cattlemen president Glenn Eber
ly. “Did you know that lean beef
has about the same level of choles
terol as skinless chicken? Chicken
with the skin on has more choles
terol than bed!”
Ebcrly stated that the beef
industry has a public relations
problem. “Very few people are
aware of that fact. Make a guess
Walter Martz the former General Mangager for Md. and Va.
Milk Producers Association. Robert McSparran, (right)
MAMMA Chairman, made the presentation at MAMMA’S
annual meeting.
and to understand what trends are
developing.”
There may be some change in
the structure of dairy promotion
programs down the line, according
to Carson and one thing industry
members can be sure of is that
dairy promotion in the ’9o’s will
be much different that what any
one has seen in the 80’s.
Carson was asked, with the ris
ing costs of advertising, if the 15
cents contribution might be
increased
In reply, Carson said, “I think
it’s best we concentrate on the 15
cents we have now and find ways
in which we can most effectively
use that. We need to work together
to find the most efficient use of our
funds on hand.”
MAMMA honored three indus
try members for their dedication
on whether there are more beef or
dairy cattle in the state of Pennsyl
vania. The right answer is beef.
Many are in small herds of say
five or ten. Because they’re in
such little groups people don’t
think about them. We need to let
consumers know this
information.”
Animal rights is a hot issue
according to Eberly. “We need to
educate people on our side of the
animal rights issue. The general
public needs to know that we are
taking care of our animals. After
all if you don’t take care of your
animals they won’t take care of
you.
‘The veal industry has a real
image problem,” Eberly stated.
“We need to have a unified effort
in this area. Some terribly restric
tive laws have been proposed in
this country. Legislators tend to
listen better to organizations than
to individuals so we need to work
on these issues together.”
Eberly also has been relatively
pleased with the beef advertising
that has been appearing. ‘The beef
checkoff has been god sent We
have been using the money to help
educate people about the impor
tance of beef and to dispel the fal
lacies that surround it. Some folks
questioned the use of stars like
James Gamer and Cybil Shepard
in our T.V. commercials because
of their expense. And it’s true that
they were expensive. But I feel
they were effective. Before the
commercials we found that people
weren’t ordering beef when dining
out. It was more fashionable to
order salad bars or sushi or some
such thing. After the commercials,
beef seemed to come back in style.
and support of MAMMA and the
dairy farmers of the Middle Atlan
tic Milk Marketing Association;
—James R. Barnett, Atlantic
Dairy Cooperative Members Rela
tions Manager,
—Walter A. Martz, Former
Chairman, Vice Chairman, Execu
tive Committee member and board
member of MAMMA. Martz sits
on the National Dairy Promotion
and Research Board and is a mem
ber of the Maryland and Virginia
Milk Producers Association.
(Award was accepted by Jim
Click, former General Manager for
Maryland and Virginia Milk
Producers.)
—Lyle C. Tabb, former MAM
MA Board of Director and former
Maryland and Virginia Milk Pro
ducers Association.
I can’t say beef consumption is
back where it was years ago but
we’ve stopped the slide.”
Eberly offered farmers an
opportunity to do a little promot
ing of their own. The Pennsylv
ania Beef Council is offering beef
signs including farm names to
folks at a discount price. The signs
are a mild yellow and include the
logo “Real Food for Real People.”
It costs $20,000 to $30,000 for
billboards that are up for 30 days.
The 4xB-foot signs cost $75 and
can be ordered from the Pennsyl
vania Beef Council at (717)
545-6000.
Eberly also told the Berks far
mers about the proposed Pennsyl
vania Beef Expo scheduled for
March 28 and April 1,1990. ‘The
expo will include educational
programs and a trade show. We
are working on a medieval fair to
show how beef has progressed
from the middle ages to the pre
sent. The expo will also feature
seminars for farmers.”
The trade show is getting a lot
of response. Rather than taking
their exhibits to several events
through the summer, people will
be able to reach beef farmers by
exhibiting at just one event.
Eberly concluded his presenta
tion by reminding the cattlemen
that the state organization is inter
ested in their views. “Ours is a
grassroots organization. We want
and need your input.”
President Sheila Miller con
ducted a short business meeting
including the election of four
members to the board of directors.
Elected for three-year terms were
Paul Holcombe, April Moll, and
Bill Weist Charles Nehf will be
serving a one-year term.
for
Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Tab (left) with an appreciation award for
their service to MAMMA and to the dairy farmers of the
Middle Atlantic Milk Marketing Area.
,(k :) Atian.... iryv ipei.
Relations Manager, accepts an award from MAMMA Chair
man, Robert McSparran (right) for his years of service to
MAMMA and to dairy farmers In the mld-atiantlc region.
try Representative. Sheila Miller, president of the County
Beef Association, and Glenn Eberly, president of the
Pennsylvania Cattleman’s Association congratulated her
at the association’s first banquet held October 21.
The Berks County Cattleman’s Association held their
first banquet on October 21. Among their activities was the
election of board directors. They Include (left to right) Gerl
Gammel, Mike Flrestlne, Sheila Miller, April Moll and Paul
Holcombe.