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Annual Report

Dear Fellow Beef Producers:
The last year brought both challenges and opportunities for beef but what remains impressive is the adaptability of beef producers to continuously
improve the high quality protein we raise. As we have experienced cattle market highs and lows, high beef prices, and challenges in the nutrition field,
your Arizona Beef Council has adapted our programs and outreach to meet the needs of the ever-changing beef consumer.
Though it is impossible to capture all your staff does in this report, please take a look at the highlights from 2014-2015 and the important partnership
between our state beef council and the national Beef Checkoff Program.You will see some new programs, along with some old stand byes, as we adjust
to the needs of our consumer while remaining rooted in promoting the most delicious, safest, and nutritious protein on the planet.
Our top notch staff -- Bas Aja, Lauren Scheller, Tiffany Selchow, and Maria Cadena -- bring ingenuity, professionalism and drive to execute programs to
reach beef consumers across Arizona.
The ABC continued its strong partnership with the Arizona State Cowbelles by providing financial support for important activities including Phoenix
Cooks and the Arizona Beef Ambassador program. We continue to join forces at events to deliver a positive message about beef. The Cowbelles are
outstanding boots on the ground.
Thank you to my fellow board members for your commitment to the council by sharing your time, knowledge and foresight. As the chair of the ABC
from 2012-2015, I am proud of the depth and effectiveness of the programs carried out each year. As you read through our annual report, I hope you
too are pleased with everything the ABC does to promote beef with consumers and influencers throughout the state.
I enjoy recalling the programs for which we plan and execute and I hope you enjoy reading through these highlights.You have a tremendous team
working for you to keep beef center of plate in Arizona.

Norman Hinz

Arizona Beef Council Chairman 2012-2015

zARIZONA MARKETING

AND PUBLIC RELATIONSy
E For the holidays, the five Arizona WinCo Foods

grocery stores promoted on-pack Beef Rib Roast
coupons for $5.00 off the purchase. The threeweek promotion sold 6,815 pounds of beef at these
stores over Christmas and New Year’s.

E Arizona Beef Council (ABC) and the Arizona State Cowbelles dished
up 1,400 beef samples at Phoenix Cooks, Arizona’s premier culinary
event. Checkoff-funded Chef Dave Zino hosted two on-stage
demonstrations of beef recipes and tips.

E ABC partnered with Shamrock Food Service, a foodservice

distributor, to promote beef to their customers by providing beef
cut charts and sales materials to center-of-plate specialists in
conjunction with their “Get Grilling” beef recipe contest.

E Sysco coordinated with ABC to host a Gate to Plate tour for chefs to
experience beef production in Arizona.

E To help the chefs in training

at Le Cordon Bleu College
of Culinary Arts Scottsdale,
the ABC coordinated a Beef
Culinary Concepts experience
for more than 60 of the
school’s students. Focus was
on foodservice topics including
USDA grading and inspection,
packaging, aging, and animal care.

E Over Father’s Day and the Fourth of July holidays, ABC supported

the Scottsdale Costco’s Prime Beef Road Show. There was a 55%
increase in the Prime beef category against Father's Day last year and
a 100% increase over Fourth of July 2014.

E Your ABC staff mitigated and responded to numerous media requests
on topics including beef prices, health reports, drought and weather,
and food safety.

E After nearly a decade of recession, lower supply and higher beef prices,

DEAR FELLOW BEEF PRODUCERS,

Many Americans have become afraid of the food they eat. It’s no wonder. Headlines admonish them to avoid fat.
Newscasters gravely announce the latest study about one food ingredient or another. Bloggers rant about pesticides,
hormones, antibiotics and/or their pet dietary restrictions. Every neighbor, it seems, touts his or her favorite diet regimen.
Meanwhile, beef and other good, basic foods have often fallen from the discussions, at least the ones that present our
products – and our industries – accurately.
Without a bottomless funding source, it would be impossible to counter all of the swirling, often internet-based
negative information. However, through your Beef Checkoff Program a tremendous amount of work is being done to
increase understanding of beef, and present positive impressions of beef producers.

The information in this report isn’t the whole story of those efforts, but it will give you an overview of the progress
being made on your behalf with consumers. Through the partnership between your state beef council and the national Beef Checkoff Program, we
are having success in building more demand for what we produce and trust in how we produce it.
For more information on beef checkoff efforts, please contact your state beef council. I want you to know that I and other beef producers on
voluntary boards helping direct these efforts always have your interests – our interests – at heart.
Yours truly,

Jennifer Houston
Chairman, Federation of State Beef Councils

zPROTEIN STAGES A COMEBACKy

After decades of taking a back seat to
publicity about carbohydrates and fat,
protein is making a comeback. Today, the
macronutrient is the focus of both research
and positive information, and reasserting
itself as a key component of a healthful diet.
It makes sense. Protein is essential to the
diet, while protein from animal foods is
more rapidly and readily absorbed than
plant protein in our diets. A 3-ounce
serving of lean beef provides 25 grams of
protein – as well as 10 essential nutrients –
in just 154 calories.

The beef industry has been promoting the message of protein and its value
for years, but the Beef Checkoff Program took it to a new level in 2015 by
helping coordinate the Protein Challenge, a 30-day step-by-step way for
consumers to understand how protein intake could be balanced to optimize
good health through the diet. The idea was for consumers to work their way
up to eating 30 grams of protein at every meal, giving them the chance to
feel the difference in their everyday lives.
Studies show doing this would not only improve health, but control food
cravings at critical times during the day. It will help consumers take control
of their appetites and kick-start benefits of balancing protein consumption.
During a national program introduction in April 2015 more than 10,500
consumers were actively participating in the program by subscribing to a
daily inspirational email, which helped them succeed in keeping to their
protein intake goals. The program’s website landing page had become the
most visited page on the www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com website, with
more than 70,000 visits over the first month, thanks to state and national
efforts to promote it.

zA SHARPENED TOOL FOR

DEFENDING THE INDUSTRYy

Having producers trained and able to defend
their product and their practices is an important
element of a successful “on the ground” strategy.
The Beef Checkoff Program’s Masters of Beef
Advocacy (MBA) program, with about 6,000
graduates to date nationwide, is an effort to
properly arm producers with the facts they need
when in contact with consumers.

A new version of the MBA program called MBA
2.0 was launched this past year, allowing beef
and dairy producers to step up and be true “agvocates” for their industry.
Building on the success of the original MBA program, MBA has new content
based on consumer research that tackles current questions about the beef
industry and its end product. The new elements of MBA 2.0 take about an
hour to complete.
Those who complete the MBA program say it allowed them to gain a clear
and useful understanding of beef industry issues that are important to
consumers, and as a result are important for producers to share. To sign up
for the MBA program go to www.beef.org/mba.

zFIVE KEY FINDINGS OF THE
CONSUMER BEEF INDEXy
E An overwhelming majority of millennials (79 percent) believe the

positives of beef outweigh the negatives.
E Among the beef industry’s core audience (millennial parents) more than
four of five (82 percent) think the positives either strongly or somewhat
outweigh the negatives.
E For the first time, when asked “which do you to prefer to eat for dinner,”
an equal proportion of consumers (34 percent) prefer beef as prefer
chicken. (As recently as 2012, 38 percent preferred chicken, while 29
percent preferred beef).

the decline in beef consumption appears to have stabilized at an average
of two servings per week.
E More Americans intend to increase beef consumption in the future as
intend to decrease it (18 percent versus 15 percent).
The Consumer Beef Index is a semi-annual national survey completed with more
than a thousand U.S. consumers ages 13-65. Initially developed in 2006, it is
used by the Beef Checkoff Program to track changes in consumer perception of beef,
assess the impact of the industry’s communications efforts, monitor areas of relative
strength and potential vulnerability for beef and provide input for national checkoff
strategies.

zDIGITAL ADVERTISING
CONTINUES TO BUILDy

This past summer the Beef Checkoff Program made the biggest push yet for
its “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” digital campaign, reaching consumers in a
variety of ways, across different platforms:
E The BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com website, which serves as the go-to
resource for recipes and meal inspirations, cooking tips and techniques,
and nutrition information. A new landing page supporting the grilling
season was launched;
E New videos, with three
new “No-Recipe Recipe”
advertising spots created to
inspire new meal ideas and
cooking techniques, while
showing how beef can help
bring a delicious and nutritious
meal to life;
E Social, Banners, Search Advertising, used throughout the summer to
drive traffic to the website and various content assets throughout the
year, such as recipe collections, videos and the grilling season landing
page; and

E The Protein Challenge, launched in April 2015, which was the most

popular page on the website. Search and Facebook advertising efforts
motivated more than 10,500 consumers to subscribe to daily Protein
Challenge e-mails.

zSUPPORT GROWS AS

KNOWLEDGE IMPROVESy

Research shows three of four producers support the Beef Checkoff Program,
and that the more they know about the program the more supportive they
are. That same research shows the number of producers who say they do not
support the program is the lowest ever found – 10 percent.
The survey of beef and dairy producers nationwide was conducted by an
independent research firm in June and July. It found a vast majority of
beef and dairy producers continue to say their beef checkoff has value for
them by contributing to a positive trend in beef demand, contributing to
the profitability of their operations, representing their interests and being
well-managed.

zBEEF EXPORTS DELIVER

STRONG VALUE FOR PRODUCERSy

Beef exports continue to deliver excellent returns for producers, as
the value per head of fed slaughter was nearly $292 in 2015. While the
tightening of U.S. beef supplies has constrained overall export volume
growth for the past three years, international demand has remained strong
as customers have paid higher prices, supporting record export values.
With USDA forecasting a 4.5 percent increase in U.S. beef production
next year, there will be greater availability of U.S. beef cuts that command
a premium overseas, including short ribs, short plate, skirts, chuck rolls
and tongues. Checkoff-funded efforts conducted by the U.S. Meat Export
Federation around the world are focused on those markets that maximize
potential for U.S. beef exports.

CATTLEMEN’S BEEF BOARD FISCAL YEAR 2015 EXPENDITURES
Administration

$1,541,927

USDA Oversight*

$246,889

Program Development

$315,491

Program Evaluation

$202,093

Producer Communications

$1,555,711

Foreign Marketing

$7,661,822

Industry Information

$1,781,595

Consumer Information

$10,660,349

Research

$9,776,601

Promotion

$8,092,825

Total expenses

$41,835,303

Unaudited numbers

* This total also includes CBB’s costs associated with Freedom of
Information Act requests and legal fees associated with lawsuits.

zCONSUMER OUTREACH

E ABC assisted with Summer Ag Institute, a week-long continuing

education seminar to help teachers gain first-hand experience with
Arizona agriculture. Beef-focused stops included Groseta Ranches,
Heiden Land & Cattle, Perkinsville Meat Processors, and a presentation
by Judy Prosser of the Diablo Trust.

AND SOCIAL MARKETINGy
E Made possible by the Federation

Initiative Fund, ABC hosted a
Gate to Plate tour for nutrition
influencers. Stops included Pinal
Feeding Co. and the Quarter
Circle U Ranch. A second
tour for beef retailers, meat
distributors and chefs took place
in the spring with stops at Heiden
Land & Cattle Company and JBS
Tolleson, Inc. harvesting facility.

E To engage with Arizona’s millennial consumers and start conversations

with them, beef messages were posted on social media outlets including
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #AZbeef.

E ABC commissioned five lesson plans with Arizona beef as the central
topic. Lesson topics range from food safety to sustainability and are
available for free on ABC’s website.

E The Beef 101 workshop at the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association summer
convention focused on new innovative beef products and the process
required to take a product from idea to actual availability on super
market shelves. Shenoa French, Director of Innovation & Product
Solutions with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, showed off
great products such as microwavable ground beef and Schmacon™,
beef’s answer to bacon.

E ABC reached over 300 students at the annual Flex (Fall Leadership

Extravaganza) Conference which invited students from across Arizona
in groups such as Family, Career and Community Leaders of America to
attend information sessions. ABC covered the many different types of
beef including grain and grass finished, natural and organic.

E Staff presented at the National Ag in the Classroom conference

highlighting the beef lifecycle lesson plan to show how agriculture,
specifically beef production, can be incorporated into classroom learning.

E The Beef UpYour Classroom grant program delivered tasty results, allowing
selected teachers to incorporate beef into their culinary lesson plans.

E ABC sponsored beef-focused speakers at the

Northern Arizona Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics Annual Conference and Arizona
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual
Meeting.

zABC BOARD OF
DIRECTORSy

Norman Hinz, Chair, Cattle Feeder
Linda Brake, Cattle Grower
Dean Fish, Cattle Grower
Wesley Kerr, Dairyman
Mary Jo Rideout, Cattle Feeder
Mark Rovey, Dairyman
Billy Sawyer, Cattle Feeder
Gary Thompson, Dairyman
James Webb, Cattle Grower

zARIZONA FEDERATION DIRECTORSy
Linda Brake
Norman Hinz

zCATTLEMEN’S BEEF BOARD MEMBERy
Barbara Jackson

zSTAFFy

Bas Aja, Executive Director
Lauren Scheller, Assistant Executive Director
Tiffany Selchow, Director of Social Marketing and Consumer Outreach
Maria Cadena, Executive Administrative Assistant

E Classroom presentations included beef cutting demonstrations, thanks

FOLLOW ARIZONA BEEF COUNCIL ON

to a partnership with the University of Arizona and Dr. Sam Garcia of
the UA Food Product and Safety Laboratory. These unique presentations
showed culinary and agriculture students how the beef carcass is broken
down and also included a beef taste test.

@ ARIZONABEEF #AZBEEF

ARIZONA BEEF COUNCIL
FISCAL YEAR 2014-2015
National Program
AZ Promotions/Consumer
AZ Industry Information
AZ Cowbelle Programs
Administrative Costs
Producer Communication
AZ Department Ag Fees
Total

311,664
132,627
21,715
63,675
11,678
21,715
29,789
635,734

2% 4% 5%
11%
4%
52%
22%