One year after the “pink slime” fiasco hit American headlines, not to mention the beef industry, a certain sea change has evolved among the chattering classes of media and the Internet. The legal battle waged to defend Beef Products Inc. and its product – lean finely trimmed beef, or LFTB – against the blitzkrieg of negative press led by ABC News is far from over. But as more facts emerge from the case, it’s obvious that the so-called reporting on LFTB was blatantly foul.

In an effort to simplify the names consumers see on meat packages at the retail market, the National Pork Board and Beef Checkoff Program gained approval from their standards committee to begin using new terminology for fresh beef and pork. Approval by the Industry-wide Cooperative Meat Identification Standards Committee (ICMISC) for new Uniform Retail Meat Identification Standards (URMIS) was the culmination of extensive consumer research, which showed an opportunity for retailers to build consumer confidence in how to shop for and prepare beef and pork.

In this article, we focus on the most indispensable part of any industry – beef, agriculture, any business. I am talking about customers of farmers – consumers of food. It is important to remember that no business can exist without customers that purchase its products or services.

Currently, I am a member of South Dakota Agricultural Rural Leadership (SDARL) program – Class VII. SDARL was initiated 15 years ago with the goal of assisting program participants in gaining the vision, knowledge, confidence and commitment necessary to assume leadership roles in South Dakota’s agricultural industry. This goal is accomplished through a 55-day intensive educational program spanning over 18 months, including both classroom and field experiences.

Bob Sand is fond of the old saying “most ranchers know the EPDs of their bulls better than they know their wedding anniversaries,” but he says that if you ask a rancher about the composition of the mineral he feeds, chances are he won’t be able to tell you. “It’s not glamorous talking about nutrition within your herd,” says Sand, owner and president of The Beef Connection, a data-driven, multi-year breeding, production and marketing program for commercial cattle producers. “But bulls, bulls are glamorous, and people know their bulls.”

A foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination campaign for Argentina’s Chaco region began in March, the National Service for Animal Health and Quality, and the Ministry of Production have confirmed. A 60-day inoculation program was launched in March across all livestock units in the province, including beef and dairy cattle breeding stock and all classes of buffalo. The vaccination plan will also include brucellosis vaccination of 3-month-old to 8-month-old calves.

An E. coli outbreak in a major Canadian slaughter plant turned the country into a net importer of beef during the fourth quarter of 2012. According to figures supplied by Canfax in Calgary, Alberta, Canadian beef production and exports were sharply curtailed after an outbreak of the lethal bacteria at XL Foods slaughter and processing center in Brooks, Alberta. “The plant closure certainly had a major impact on exports,” said Brian Perillat, manager/senior analyst at Canfax. “In the fourth quarter, Canada was actually a net importer of beef.”

Effects of fatty acids on our health are continually discussed in the media.

The ingenuity of farmers should never come into question. They’ve come up with hundreds of ways to utilize twine and duct tape. When times are tough, farmers find solutions. That’s why it’s no surprise that in a year of drought, farmers are rekindling an old idea of stretching their feed supplies further.