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February 16, 2001

Beef Industry Challenges

Dr. Kevin Pond identified several challenges facing the industry at the recent Beef Summit. Among those challenges:

•Product inconsistency. This refers not only to the variability of beef offered to consumers, but also to the lack of predictable performance of cattle.

•Markets are not value-based. Beef marketing does not sufficiently reward production whose cattle meet or exceed set criteria.

•Low net returns/high production costs. This problem fundamentally boils down to the inability of producers to manage natural resources, poor communication flow between the stages of production-marketing chain and poor adoption of sound production technology.

•Environmental management/sustainability.

•Diversity of producer goals. While profit is a goal for many producers, raising cattle is more of a hobby for others.

•Enhancing compatability of beef production with alternative land uses is needed to enhance overall productivity.