News Update
September 30, 2011
Beef Team Member Named One of Austin’s Fittest
The checkoff-funded Beef Team is in its third year and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Hollie Kenney is one of the team’s stars and has been busy spreading the word about lean beef at races across the state. She recently earned a spot on the “10 of Austin’s Fittest” list by Austin Fit magazine.
“It was a huge honor to be chosen, and it was a surprise, especially in a city with such fit and active people,” Kenney said. “It’s a huge accomplishment, and it’s nice to know I was in the running just a year after I had a baby.”
Kenney is a former professional triathlete, Masters swimming coach and personal trainer. She is the former head cross-country, track and swimming coach at John Hopkins University, a 17-time All-American triathlete and six-time Ironman finisher.
Kenney has had an amazing year, recently breaking the course record at the TriWaco triathlon and winning the Jack’s Generic triathlon in New Braunfels. Kenney is extremely busy being a single mom to a 1-year-old daughter, Montannah, but encourages others like her to get out and make time to be active.
“Hollie is an essential part of our team, and we’re proud to have her represent the beef industry,” said Jennifer Matison, Texas Beef Council (TBC) senior consumer marketing manager. “Through the Beef Team, our industry has a place that’s relevant and compelling in the fitness and health world. The team is leading by example and speaks to everyone from the average mother wanting to be more active and run in her first 5k, to the cream-of-the-crop athlete like Hollie who consistently finishes in the top three.”
The Beef Team consists of more than 500 runners across the state promoting the healthy benefits of beef, namely through example, to other members of the fitness community. Kenney is the volunteer captain and lead trainer for the beef team.
“I’m so proud to be a part of a team that’s so passionate about their sport and everyone understands the benefits lean beef has to offer in the diet,” Kenney said.
2011 National FFA Convention to be Televised Live on Internet
The National FFA Organization will stream its 2011 National Convention in Indianapolis Oct. 19-22 live online via the newly launched Alltech Ag Network on iHigh.com. The televised convention will be accessible real time via computers, iPads and all iPhone, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices.
As FFA membership stands at more than a half-million students throughout the Unite States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, iHigh.com expects this to be their largest telecast ever.
iHigh.com, the Global Youth Network, is designed to provide free feature-rich Web services to schools, students and youth organizations, and enables live streaming of events, mobile broadcasting, unlimited photo uploads and more. Using iHigh.com’s unique platform, high schools and organizations such as the National High School Rodeo Association, U.S. Pony Club, USA Swimming, the Bass Federation, BMX tracks, AAU and many others are able to share their events in real time with a global audience that can access the streaming video on any computer or mobile device. Currently, iHigh receives 1.3 million unique visitors per month with a growth of 30% just within the last 30 days.
The broadcast schedule for the 2011 FFA National Convention is as follows (times are listed in EST):
- I Believe – Opening Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 19, 7:15 p.m.
- I Believe in Action – Second Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 20, 2 p.m.
- I Believe in ... – Third Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m.
- I Believe in Service – Fourth Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 21, 8 a.m.
- I Believe in Leadership – Fifth Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 21, 12 p.m.
- I Believe in Excellence – Sixth Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 21, 3 p.m.
- I Believe in Possibilities – Seventh Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 21, 7 p.m.
- I Believe in Passion – Eighth Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 22, 7:45 a.m.
- I Believe in the Future – Ninth Session at Conseco Fieldhouse – Oct. 22, 1:30 p.m.
View the broadcasts live on the Internet or an iPad at ffa.ihigh.com. For mobile phone, including iPhones, Androids and some BlackBerrys, the broadcasts may be accessed at m.ihigh.com/ffa by clicking on the Media button and selecting your smartphone type to view the broadcast.
Broadcasts will be viewable live and on demand at no cost to the users. If there are any issues viewing a broadcast, please contact 859-514-3886 for technical support.
Beef Ambassadors to Compete in Wooster, Ohio,
Sept. 30-Oct. 2
Beef Ambassadors to Compete in Wooster, Ohio, Sept. 30-Oct. 2
Twenty-nine students will compete at the National Beef Ambassador contest in Wooster, Ohio, this weekend. Students from across the country will vie for cash awards and college scholarships during the national contest Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2011, at the Shisler Conference Center and Hilton Garden Inn in Wooster, Ohio. Cash awards totaling nearly $6,000, sponsored exclusively by Farm Credit, will be presented, as well as $5,000 in scholarship awards sponsored by the American National CattleWomen (ANCW) Foundation Inc.
The National Beef Ambassador Program selects a team of five enthusiastic young adults to spend the next year telling the beef production story to consumers and students across the country. The program is funded in part by the Beef Checkoff Program and is managed by ANCW.
Senior contestants, ages 17-20, compete in four different judging areas: consumer promotion, media interview, classroom presentations, and issues response. Junior contestants, ages 12-16, compete in two different judging areas: consumer promotion and media interview.
For more information, visit www.nationalbeefambassador.org. For questions regarding the National Beef Ambassador Program or this event, please contact Sarah Bohnenkamp at sbohnenkamp@beef.org or 303-850-3440.
Visit www.nationalbeefambassador.org or www.ancw.org for more information.
Research Predicts U.S. Protein Production Will Decline Sharply in 2012
U.S. meat and poultry production is headed for what researchers at the Rabobank International Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) group anticipate to be a “precipitous fall” by mid-2012. Beef and broiler supplies are all expected to tighten as production increasingly lags behind GDP growth.
Released today, the Rabobank International Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) group’s “Where’s the Beef?” report notes that drought in the U.S. is a major contributor to the production decline, but the report finds that global meat and poultry production is in the midst of a multiyear process of adjusting to higher and more volatile feed costs. Since the United States is a large and significant exporter of meat protein, the decline will also affect world markets as well as demand for feed, notably for corn.
“The drastic decline in protein production we anticipate will be felt in a number of industries,” notes David Nelson, Global Strategist with the Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory team. “We expect the decline will create concerns for everyone from foodservice operators to corn producers.”
The report delves into domestic and global consumption trends. Per capita meat consumption in the United States appears to have peaked. The poultry industry, in particular, should no longer count on rising domestic demand as a means of growing its way out of overproduction situations. However, a rising GDP in the developing world is contributing to an increasing global demand for meat protein.
“The greater global demand for meat protein is the key driver to rising feed costs, which in turn drive up the cost of raising animal protein,” Nelson says. “Global meat and poultry production continues to significantly lag GDP growth, which is, of course, the key factor behind rising prices.”
Beef outlook: Given the long cattle production cycle, as well as a relatively high feed conversion ratio, beef is the protein sector least able to cope with structurally higher and more volatile corn prices.
Extreme drought conditions in the South and Southwest and many areas, specifically Texas, are resulting in significant herd liquidation. As a result, the report predicts U.S. beef supplies will be plentiful when the cattle currently in feedlots come to market, but the long-term impact will include a dramatic decline in beef production by mid-2012.
“U.S. beef production could be running as much as 7% below comparable 2011 levels by the third quarter of 2012,” Nelson says.
U.S per capita consumption will continue in a gradual decline, so the reduction in supplies will be most notable for importers of U.S. beef. The report indicates there could be a double-digit percentage decline in beef available for export in the second half of 2012.
Corn outlook: A reduction in the domestic production of beef, chicken and pork will, of course, have an impact on corn demand. Ethanol consumption accounts for approximately 40% of the use of the 2011 corn crop, and the report’s authors estimate that corn demand will decline by an incremental 50 million bushels in the third quarter and by 100 million bushels in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to 2011. This estimate should be considered in the context of USDA’s current estimate of corn ending stocks for the 2011-2012 crop year of only 672 million bushels and the implied stocks-to-use ratio of 5.3% — the second-lowest in history.
Pfizer Animal Health Invites Veterinary Students to Apply for 2012 Scholarship Program
For the third consecutive year, Pfizer Animal Health and the American Veterinary Medical Foundation invite second- and third-year students of veterinary medicine to apply for the Pfizer Animal Health Scholarship. In an effort to help address rising school debt, up to 300 scholarships of $2,500 each will be awarded to assist students in all areas of veterinary medicine.
In addition to traditional scholarship selection criteria — academic excellence and financial need — Pfizer Animal Health’s scholarship will focus on meeting the ongoing needs of the veterinary profession: increasing diversity among practitioners in ethnic heritage, gender, socioeconomic background, professional aspirations, and improving the availability of veterinarians to serve in mixed or rural practices.
In 2012, Pfizer Animal Health will provide up to $750,000 in student scholarships to eligible students in colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States and the Caribbean. Scholarships will be awarded to students in all areas, including food animal medicine, equine and small animal medicine, research, academia, and government services, among others. Award eligibility is subject to the guidelines established by individual schools.
“Learning that I was awarded the scholarship brought me peace of mind because of all the expenses I was facing while trying to focus on my veterinary education,” says 2011 scholarship recipient Joe Esch, a fourth-year student at Ohio State and current president of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association. “The scholarship was beneficial in covering the living expenses and educational opportunities not accounted for by student loans.”
To apply for the Pfizer Animal Health Veterinary Student Scholarship Program, students can visit www.vetstudentconnect.com or www.avmf.org/pfizer from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, 2011.
Editor’s Note: The articles used within this site represent a mixture of copyrights. If you would like to reprint or repost an article, you must first request permission of Angus Productions Inc. (API) by contacting the editor at 816-383-5200; 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. API claims copyright to this web site as presented. We welcome educational venues and cattlemen to link to this site as a service to their audience.