News Update
Dec. 16, 2009

Premium Beef Brand Shatters Sales Records

Records are made to be broken. That’s the prevailing sentiment at Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), which, despite a challenging global economy in fiscal 2009, achieved record sales for the third consecutive year. The Certified AngusBeef® brand logged several divisional and monthly records along the way.

Product sales from Oct. 1, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2009, topped 663 million pounds (lb.). That eclipsed the previous fiscal 2008 record of 634 million lb. by 4.6%, and the fiscal 2007 record of 584 million lb. Read more.

USDA To Host Roundtables on Jobs, Economic Growth

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin a series of roundtables and community forums on job creation and economic growth in states throughout the country. The roundtables follow the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth that President Obama hosted at the White House Dec. 3.

The roundtables will be hosted by USDA Rural Development state directors and Farm Service Agency (FSA) state executive directors. Participants will include business owners, community members, state and local officials, union members, nonprofit organizations, economists and other interested parties. Participants will discuss steps that can to be taken to grow the economy and put Americans back to work. Some of the roundtables may be regional in order to focus on shared interests, economic conditions and cooperative solutions.

The primary focus will be on ideas to accelerate job growth in rural America. Some of the topics to be discussed are:

• Exploring ways to rejuvenate and promote local businesses;
  
• Creating jobs by rebuilding America’s infrastructure;
  
• Creating new opportunities from existing ones, such as with value-added agricultural products;
  
• Supporting job growth among small businesses; and
  
• Preparing workers for 21st century jobs.

For a list of participating states and dates visit: www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/12/0614.xml.

Beef 509 Program Returns In February

The dates have been set for the 2010 BEEF 509 program. The BEEF 509 program is held to raise the awareness level about the beef that is produced and the reasons why it sometimes misses its mark with consumers’ palates and producers’ pocketbooks. The program will take place Feb. 16, 19 and 20. The Feb. 16 evening program will feature live animal evaluation and grid pricing. Carcass grading and fabrication are among the activities that will take place Feb. 19 and 20. The program is scheduled to take place at The Ohio State University Animal Sciences building in Columbus. All the same information and activities from past 509 programs will be included. It will be critical to attend all days as participants will be assigned to teams that will work together throughout the program.

A maximum of 32 spaces will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. If interest in BEEF 509 exceeds the 32 spaces provided, names will be held and applicants notified of upcoming sessions. The registration fee for each BEEF 509 participant is $150. The program is the result of a partnership with the Ohio Beef Council, The Ohio State University Extension and The Ohio State University Department of Animal Sciences. These entities will be funding all remaining costs associated with the BEEF 509 program.

For additional information on BEEF 509, call the Ohio Beef Council office at 614-873-6736 or visit www.ohiobeef.org. Deadline for registration for the program is Jan. 15, 2010.

— Release by Ohio Beef Council.

FFA Float Will Connect With Millions on New Year’s Day

On the morning of Jan. 1, 2010, the National FFA Organization will make contact with an estimated 42 million people in the United States, and more than 100 million people worldwide, through participation in the 121st Tournament of Roses Parade.

Television viewers settled in to watch this New Year’s Day tradition will witness history being made, as the first-ever FFA float in the Rose Parade not only makes its way down Orange and Colorado Boulevards before the crowds in Pasadena, but into the living rooms, and into the hearts, of families watching at home. On and surrounding the float will be the 2009-2010 National FFA Officer Team, National FFA Advisor Larry Case and the four Stars Over America, along with invited FFA presidents from every U.S. state, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

The float, FFA Today, is one of the largest in the parade, at 75 feet (ft.) long, 30 ft. tall and 18 ft. wide. It features three gigantic sculptures depicting FFA members engaging in agricultural, educational and development activities. The float will further be highlighted by several elements from the FFA emblem, each with a significant meaning. Alongside the emblem are a sleek horse, a combine, barn and windmill, a stand of evergreens, a grove of fruit trees, and finally, urban buildings and a communications satellite — contrasting with the rural features to display the scope of FFA activities. The float is designed to represent all FFA members, past and present, as well as portray a most positive image of agriculture into rural, suburban and urban-based homes. In addition to more than 10,000 fresh flowers, the float will be decorated by FFA members with commodities grown by the American farmer, including corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton.

All of the FFA float costs and expenses for this major communications effort are being underwritten entirely by RFD-TV and the sponsors and advertisers associated with RFD-TV’s live broadcast of the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade and Equestfest. The float also promotes and ties in with the weekly, half-hour FFA news magazine program on RFD-TV.

The Tournament of Roses Parade is simultaneously carried live or on tape delay by six national or cable television networks in the United States (ABC, NBC, HGTV, Univision, RFD-TV/RFD HD, KTLA) and begins at 11 a.m. (Eastern time). The parade will also be distributed into more than 110 countries around the world. Extensive print and radio media cover the events and floats leading up to the parade and the afternoon Rose Bowl football game. It is anticipated that interview opportunities for FFA will also materialize with outlets such as the “Today Show” with Al Roker, KTLA, and other media.

In addition to its regular live production and broadcast of the two-hour Tournament of Roses Parade hosted by Crook & Chase along with Pam Minick, RFD-TV will also air a one-hour special on the “Making of the FFA Float” beginning at 10 a.m. (Eastern time), and will repeat the entire three-hour Rose Parade broadcast set several times during the first week of January. There will also be a live web feed of the float being built and decorated on the www.rfdtv.com web site, plus “Float Updates” on the channel.

— Release provided by RFD-TV.

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.