1999 News Archive
BEEF INDUSTRY ISSUES MANAGEMENT RECEIVES HIGH PRAISE IN RECENT AUDIT
DENVER (December 23, 1999) Issues management programs, funded by the beef checkoff to help the industry anticipate and manage problems and challenges, received high praise in a recent independent audit. Out of a possible high score of 5.0, the industry's issues management program received a 4.8 for its ability to deal with adverse issues and help consumers remain positive about the beef industry.
Ned Sayre, beef producer from Churchville, MD, and chairman of the issues management subcommittee, says the issues management program helps producers have a more profitable business.
"By being out front on potential issues and maintaining a careful vigil over current ones, we can be more successful in all of the programs we conduct," he says. "As one of the country's most popular products, beef will always generate issues for beef producers. But the 'behind the scenes' work conducted in Issues Management is a foundation that can help reduce and lessen the impact of challenges we face."
Conducted by Jack Egan of Egan Marketing Communications in Chicago, and commissioned by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board Industry Evaluation Committee, the audit is part of a regular effort by the Cattlemen's Beef Board to assess the value of the checkoff to beef producers who fund it through their $1-per-head assessment. Independent audits of selected programs are conducted every year.
The beef industry issues management program was created more than 10 years ago. It originated as an “Issues Update” publication and evolved, under the direction of NCBA Executive Director of Issues Management Rick McCarty, to respond proactively and manage issues that threaten the beef industry business and marketing climate. The issues management program serves as the beef industry’s radar screen by conducting research, analysis and communications. McCarty says the program's main responsibility is to see that issues that could threaten the beef industry are managed in a way that protects the marketing climate for beef an the business climate for beef production.
McCarty compares what the program does everyday to defensive driving.
“You don’t just look at what’s going on right around you. You look at the road up ahead to find a possible situation that could cause an accident,” he says. “If you see a potential problem situation ahead then you ask yourself if there is something you can do now to make sure that if it happens, you’re ready for it.”
McCarty describes issues management as a five-step process which he calls the STARE steps. The acronym stands for Scan, Track, Analyze, Respond and Evaluate.
"Through this STARE Step process, we can keep abreast of the many issues that are facing our industry, whether it's E. coli O157:H7 and other food safety issues, fat in the diet, the environmental impact of beef production and many other potential obstacles facing strong beef demand," McCarty says. And we can have the ammunition and strategies necessary to attack the issues."
Egan gave McCarty and his team “an A rating” for the way the beef industry reacted to problems created by the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak in England more than three years ago.
The issues management team had been tracking BSE for several years before it became a big media story in March 1996. The anticipation of problems meant the U.S. beef industry was ready to respond when mad cow disease became a huge worldwide issue. The audit report pointed out that a similar scare in the United States could have cost beef producers an estimated $350 million in cash receipts for cattle sales for every one percent annual decrease in beef sales. In countries where BSE has been found and became a serious consumer safety concern, the average decline in beef consumption was around 20 percent.