SAN ANTONIO – More than 5,000 cattle industry members have descended on San Antonio, Tex. for the 2010 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show, which began here yesterday. The event is the largest of its kind in the cattle industry, and includes the annual meetings of NCBA, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, American National CattleWomen, Cattle-Fax and the National Cattlemen’s Foundation.
“This is an important time for the future of the beef industry,” Gary Voogt, NCBA president told thousands of producers attending the Opening General Session yesterday. “Our business and our way of life are under attack.
“Our committees will be addressing this and other problems this week as we work toward a unified plan to make the business profitable and sustainable again,” he told attendees. “The buck stops with you. Get after it.”
Keynote speaker at yesterday’s Opening General Session of the Convention was Chris Gardner, author of the book The Pursuit of Happyness and inspiration for the 2006 blockbuster movie of the same name starring Will Smith. The Pursuit of Happyness chronicles a compelling rags-to-riches story that found Gardner homeless and trying to raise his son 20 years ago. He landed a trainee position at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981 and worked his way up, becoming a top earner at Bear Stearns & Company and starting his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich LLC in Chicago.
The NCBA Trade Show also opened its doors yesterday, featuring more than 260 exhibitors who are highlighting their products and services to attendees. In addition, NCBA’s award-winning Cattlemen-to-Cattlemen television program aired two live programs on RFD-TV Tuesday and Wednesday nights to showcase the Convention and views of many of its attendees.
The 2010 Cattle Industry Convention wraps up Saturday, Jan. 30, when the annual meetings of the NCBA and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board are conducted.
Source : NCBA