| Cattlemen's
Beef Board Continues Funding of Beefmobile Colorado Springs, Colo. (October 12, 2004) -- The outreach success of the Beefmobile among grassroots producers and consumers during fiscal year 2004 caught the attention of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee which authorized $150,000 for funding for fiscal year 2005: $125,000 from the producer communication budget and $25,000 from the consumer-promotion budget. This level of funding from the Cattlemen's Beef Board enables the Beefmobile to make 75 producer stops and 15 consumer stops across the country. The Beefmobile's primary responsibility has been -and will continue to be - sharing information about beef checkoff research and promotion programs with producers at livestock marketing facilities and various livestock events. Its secondary purpose is to provide consumers with beef safety and nutrition information at selected state fairs and food festivals, toward the Beef Board's overarching goal of increasing consumer demand for beef and beef products. "The Beefmobile is a tremendous tool that connects producers to their national Beef Checkoff program," states Nelson Curry, chairman of the Cattlemen's Beef Board. "And producers are telling us that they like this direct link to the national beef checkoff." Curry adds that the Beef Checkoff Program mandates that producers know how their checkoff dollars are invested, and the Beefmobile is one of numerous avenues used by the CBB to provide information to producers. The checkoff plan of work approved for fiscal 2005 includes $2.1 million for producer communications, with the Federation of State Beef Councils further increasing checkoff-funded producer communications programs by $773,000. The Beefmobile project is conducted on behalf of American's beef producers and the Cattlemen's Beef Board by the National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA). NLPA serves as one of the Beef Board's contractors for checkoff-funded programs. Jack Hanson, a cattle producer from Susanville, Calif, and chairman of NLPA, acknowledges the 20-member Beef Promotion Operating Committee for its fiscal 2005 funding of the Beefmobile. "The Beefmobile was introduced to the beef industry in fiscal year 2004 because the CBB recognizes that the rank-and-file beef producer is important," Stuart states. "Many beef producers cannot get away from the farm or ranch for state or national meetings, so the Beefmobile was created to go to them. And the ideal place is the local livestock marketing facility, plus other industry events such as a farm show or state fair where they gather in large numbers." Curry and Hanson agree that the beef checkoff investment is significantly enhanced by also having the Beefmobile deliver beef safety and nutrition information and recipes to consumers at retail stops, food fairs and state fairs when the beef art-emblazoned vehicle is making producer communication stops in a state. A bonus of the Beefmobile, Hanson says, is that it serves as a rolling billboard for the beef industry. "With eye-appealing steaks and a hamburger as the Beefmobile décor, we are bound to have consumers who definitely want to eat beef at their next meal," Hanson states.
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# # © 2004 Cattlemen's Beef Board
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