To the editor:
Beef is back. That's good news to those of us who enjoy eating beef, whether it's a lean, tender steak; a convenient, flavorful roast; or a burger with all the trimmings. It's also good news to those of us who raise cattle.Beef is big business. The beef industry is the single largest segment of American agriculture, with sales of cattle and calves accounting for about 22 percent of total receipts from farm marketings.
In Utah, cash receipts from cattle and calves totaled $267 million in 1988. And every dollar of cattle sales generates an additional $5 to $6 of business activity in the farm supply and food businesses.
There's an important reason why beef is back. Beef producers became part of a new era in the beef industry on Oct. 1, 1986, when the national beef checkoff program began. Through the checkoff, beef producers invest $1 per head of cattle sales in a program that funds beef promotion, education and research at both the national and state levels.
June 27, 1989, marks the 1,000th day of the national checkoff program - 1,000 days of solid progress for us in the beef industry. The result is a better, more nutritious and enjoyable product for consumers and improved profitability for the biggest single sector of the agricultural economy.
Gary Rose, president
Utah Cattlemen's Association