CONTACT:        Joe Schuele                  303-850-3360     jschuele@beef.org

                        Melanie Sojourner          601-304-0321     msojourner@beef.org

(Note: photos of Queen and Sojourner are available upon request.)

NCBA Adds New Southeast Region Field Representative

DENVER (August 17, 2005) -  The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has added a field representative for the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. NCBA includes seven regions, with these eight states comprising Region II. NCBA Vice President John Queen, a cattleman from Waynesville, N.C., said the position is aimed at increasing NCBA membership in a region where cattlemen need greater representation.

“We have 191,000 cattle operations in the Southeast – the second highest number of any NCBA region.” Queen said. “But our membership numbers don’t reflect that. We need to increase NCBA membership in this region, so the Southeast will have the voice that it deserves in the national organization.”

Queen said it is also a priority for NCBA to increase the region’s membership in the Livestock Marketing Council, which enhances opportunities for livestock market operators and order buyers to join and actively participate in NCBA, and to receive value-added services.

Melanie Sojourner has been appointed to the new field representative position. In her new capacity, Sojourner will work closely with state affiliates to build membership in the association by communicating NCBA policy, advancing the interests of cattle producers within the region, and representing NCBA at industry meetings and events. Sojourner has been with NCBA since 2001. She previously worked in the publications department, and most recently directed the membership department at NCBA’s Denver headquarters. She is now based in Natchez, Miss., where her family has been engaged in the cattle business since the early 1800s.   

“It is exciting for me to focus on the Southeast region, building NCBA membership in this area and focusing on the unique issues faced by the cattle industry here,” Sojourner said. “I hope to give state affiliates and individual cattlemen in this region a more direct line of communication with NCBA operations in Denver and Washington, D.C., and give them a stronger voice in the national industry.”

Queen feels having someone with Sojourner’s background in the region and experience in the cattle industry will make the field representative position especially valuable.

“Melanie’s from the Southeast, and really understands the needs and issues that are critical to cattle producers from this area,” Queen said. “We feel that cattlemen will respond very well to her efforts to build membership, and the potential here is really unlimited.”

Queen added that in addition to having a greater voice within NCBA, cattlemen in the Southeast region can also grow their level of influence in Congress by increasing their presence in NCBA.

“A voice in the industry is a voice in Washington, D.C., and the Southeast region is of critical importance in this regard,” Queen said. “So much of the agricultural clout and seniority in Congress rests with legislators from the Southeast, and they need to hear from cattlemen from their states on a regular basis.”

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