In a state where cattle outnumber people four-to-one, it only makes sense for the stakeholders of the South Dakota Beef Checkoff Program to invest their dollars in urban areas such as New York, which was the location of a recent "Meat Your Beef" immersion event held for the corporate staff and meat department of Stew Leonard's, a regional retail chain based in Norwalk, Conn.
A tour at Walbridge Farm in Millbrook, N.Y. was held on August 11 and offered participants a unique opportunity to visit a modern working cattle ranch and see how the beef they sell gets from the pasture to the consumers' dinner plate.
"Our goal for this beef tour was to connect urban retail meat and marketing department staff with modern-day beef production," said Christie Brown, Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NEBPI) director of promotions. "In-store staff selling beef on a daily basis are on the front-line of fielding consumer questions, many of which center around cattle production. We wanted to equip these in-store staff with accurate and current information regarding the beef community. We also realize meat department staff tend to be somewhat confused about the variety of beef choices available in the meat case today, and the goal of this beef tour was also to help clarify the differences between common beef choices."
The South Dakota Beef Industry Council (SDBIC) earmarked dollars to be used to fund this event, held at this seven-generation seedstock Angus operation owned by Doug and Cheryl Giles.
"The retail attendees were pleasantly surprised with the beef tour experience," said Brown. "Several attendees had been on beef tours showing one segment of cattle production but none had seen it all connected from birth to meat case. The opportunity to tour Walbridge Farms provided the attendees with a unique example of the full cycle of beef production."
In addition to the farm tour, the "Meat Your Beef" immersion experience included checkoff presentations with information about marketing to millennials and the value of beef in the retail channel. The event concluded with an overview of the checkoff's "Masters of Beef Advocacy" (MBA) program. Participants were encouraged to earn their MBAs to be eligible for an associated internal incentive contest.
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