Retailers are discovering the benefits of featuring Beef Value Cuts in their stores.  That’s the word from Virginia Coelho (Co-EL-o), chairman of the Joint Retail Committee.  Coelho says steaks like the Petite Tender and the Flat Iron Steak are also doing good things for producers. 

Cut #1         :21          Outcue: "...good eating experience."

Coelho, who has a cow-calf operation with her husband in the San Francisco Bay area, says there isn’t one segment of the buying public that isn’t finding something in this program.

Cut #2         :24          Outcue: "...and flavor as well."

It’s still a fairly new idea for the retail industry.

Cut #3         :25          Outcue: "… we do the demos."

Coelho says checkoff-funded committees are looking to come up with new ways to broaden demand and appeal for beef, either at the consumer or manufacturing level.

Cut #4         :28          Outcue: "...dollars to the producer."

The research and retail promotion effort for Beef Value Cuts is funded by America’s beef producers through the $1-per-head Beef Checkoff Program.  The Beef Checkoff Program is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, with oversight provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The national Beef Checkoff Program is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, a group of 108 beef producers appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture.  They represent producers from coast-to-coast and volunteer their time to help identify programs that can help increase beef demand.  The checkoff was created in the 1985 Farm Bill, with oversight provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle and a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.