Improving Beef Industry Focus For Researchers, Community Leaders • WOOSTER, Ohio A beef are approximately 20,000 beef industry consortium represent- producers in Ohio with an aver ing five Mid west states is seek- a g e herd size of 15 head. He em ing.to establish a more efficient phasized that keeping producers regional beef production and competitive in the industry marketing system by keeping would enable them to customize producers informed of industry production on an individualized trends from calf conception to basis, thereby improving pro human consumption. duction efficiency and produce Researchers from Ohio State better quality animals. University, Purdue University, Reaching that goal involves Michigan State University, Uni- two objectives: developing an versity of Illinois and University education and outreach effort of £ e ? tu< *? ha^^ e . n awarded with training and certification a $2.5 million USDA grant to programs; and creating an elec collaborate with state depart- tronic verification system to ments of agriculture, commod- track cattle as they move ity organizations, and industry through the industry, representatives. Loerch said industry partner- Of that amount, $174,893 has ships have already been estab been awarded to Ohio State. lished to focus on the outreach The goal of the project is to program. The verification strengthen economic opportuni- system involves ear-tagging ties for beef producers by shar- cattle with identification infor ing production management mation that can be stored in a practices and. marketing and in- software program and accessed formation technology within a at any time during the produc fragmented industry. tion or marketing process. “The beef industry is a chal- “ We want people at all stages lenge as it is very segmented,” Q f production to know what’s said Steve Loerch, Ohio Agricul- going on all the time. The verifi tural Research and Develop- cation program tracks how the ment Center researcher who is animal gets handled, how it goes part of the consortium. “Pro- through the process, what shots ducers can’t control the it needs to keep it healthy,” said product from when it’s conceived to when it’s consumed. There is no power of consol idation and no mechanism exists that allows producers to make decisions on the end product.” Loerch said that unlike the poultry in dustry where producers maintain owner ship of their product through the production process to consumer market ing, the beef industry lacks a method that allows producers to track animals through the production process, share information with other producers during this process, or study marketing trends that would make their product more profitable. There are several independently owned and oper ated segments in the beef industry, includ ing seedstock, feedlot, processor, distributor, and retailer. As a result, an animal may change ownership several times during the production process. This segmentation stems in part from economic changes in the beef industry over the past 20 years that has favored large op erators. Since the late 19705, the industry has been beef consumption across the U.S. steadily drop with small-to medium-sized producers from such states as Ohio, Michi gan, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois feeling the effects, as they have been unable to compete with larger conglomerates. Ac cording to the National Agricultural Statistics Services, since 1986, one out of every three cattle operations in the region has folded, thereby reducing the number of processors and limiting beef production and marketing in the area. “We produce only three percent of the beef that is consumed in Ohio. This statis tic, in fact, is true for the region as a whole,” said Loerch, adding that there Beef Demand On Upward Path DENVER, Colo. Demand for beef continues to show strength, according to preliminary Beef Demand Index figures and other research. The preliminary figures show that demand increased 6.17 percent during the third quarter of 2000, as compared to the third quarter of 1999. Other research confirms the positive news for beef. According to Cattle-Fax consumer expenditures on beef are ex pected to surpass $53 billion in 2000 the first time ever that annual expenditures for beef have exceeded $5O billion. Total beef expenditures were about $49.4 billion in 1999. “These statistics are further evidence that our beef checkoff programs are on the right track,” says Les McNeill, a beef pro ducer from Panhandle, Tex., and chair man of the Beef Board. Loerch. “Passing information through the marketing system back to producers enables us to find out which management system is most profitable in terms of efficiency, food safety and food quality.’’ The project, funded for three years, will initially involve 5,000 head of cattle, 1,000 head per state. By the third year, the par ticipants hope to increase that number to 30,000 head through out the five-state region. Project participants intend to develop a viable economic model to study business rela tionships and profit sharing and focus on a unified regional animal health and quality assur ance program. Such an effort would not only directly improve economic opportunities for beef producers, but also would indi rectly benefit the regional econ omy. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association estimates that every dollar generated from beef sales results in $4 contributed to the regional economy. So, for ex ample, if weaned calves from the five-state regional herd of 2.5 million cattle were sold for $4OO each, $4 billion would be gener ated for the area economy. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 25,2000-D1 Hayes Visits Horse Show HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) “They ride into Harris burg from across Pennsylvania for the 4-H Horse Show. Skill. Competition. Sportsmanship. And the 4-H’ers are all winners,” said Sam Hayes, Pennsylvania secretary of agri culture. From left, Morgan Lockwood, Armstrong County; Jamie Wempie, Montour County; Heather Wilson, Indiana County; Secretary Samuel E. Hayes Jr., secretary of agri culture; Ashlee Depp, Jefferson County; Kelly Portice, Warren County; and Jennifer Ray, Somerset County.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers