Beef is top-notch, and checkoff dollars are helping issues far beyond the gate, according to a recent study by the Beef Board.
“We also see what it does for the economy as a whole. It’s created almost 50,000 jobs a year - additional jobs just by having these checkout programs and the impact on the GDP. But also, for consumers, I think what we’ve seen is a lot of this research has come out, and we gauge, you know, consumer sentiment. What are the hot buttons? What are they looking for?” said Greg Hanes, CEO of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.
Hanes says their study also helps them as an organization deliver, especially with demand at current levels. However, another issue they are faced with is disproving misinformation.
“The consumers continue to pay that because they realize, like, yeah, beef is super healthy for us. It’s nutritious, it tastes great. It’s not bad for the environment because there’s a lot of misinformation that beef is causing all the global warming, but in the research, we’ve shown beef has a positive impact. So, getting all this kind of information out there, I think, is good for the consumers to know as well so they can eat beef and be confident that this is good for me and the environment.”
Beef sales have been hot recently. The U.S. Meat Export Federation reports January beef exports were up three percent on the year, driven largely by stronger exports to China and Canada, both countries that are the subject of recent tariff action.
Beef exports to China rose 35 percent on the year. Exports to the Middle East rose five percent, with values up 13 percent. Federation CEO Dan Halstrom says despite the tariff talks, they are optimistic for the future.
“Obviously very concerning at a very high level, but we’ll just have to see how this all plays out because there are a lot of moving parts, and remains to be seen exactly what the potential impact is short-term.”
Halstrom says for the long-term, they are hoping to get through these tariff issues with minimal impact.
