The goal of this consumer information campaign is to “improve domestic preference for beef by educating consumers about things like beef safety, nutrition and health, convenience, taste and value”, the board’s communications manager Diane Henderson told globalmeatnews.com. The programme includes funding for the ‘Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative’, which promotes US-made beef sales on America’s north-east seaboard, and a ‘Moms, Millennials and More’ programme, engaging volunteer cattlewomen in beef promotions and demonstrations at grocery stores to help consumers learn and understand beef production “from pasture to plate”, she said.
US domestic beef consumption has been slipping: according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), total consumption fell to 25.5 billion lb in 2013 from 27.9 billion lb in 2002.
That said, America’s beef export have been soaring, according to US Meat Export Federation data: the value of US beef exports rose to US$5.51bn in 2012 and US$6.15bn in 2013 from US$3.08bn beef exports in 2009.
A total of US$7.7m has now been set aside by the beef board for foreign marketing and education in 100 countries for fiscal 2014-2015. They include south-east Asian countries, the Caribbean, central America, China/Hong Kong, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the Middle East, Russia and neighbouring states, South America, and Taiwan, said Henderson.
The US beef sector is hoping for big returns. A new return on investment study by Dr Harry Kaiser of Cornell University indicated that every dollar from the board’s ‘checkoff’ system of levies invested in foreign marketing between 2008 and 2013 “returned US$6.40 to the beef industry”, said Henderson.
Meanwhile, US$9.7m will be spent on research programmes focusing on issues such as pre- and post-harvest beef safety research and product quality research. Also, US$8m will be allocated for other promotions, such as the board’s consumer digital advertising programme and veal promotion, Henderson added.