Welcome Polly Ruhland, Cattlemen’s Beef Board CEO
Contact: , 402-856-2097;
Suggested Lead: Polly Ruhland (pron. rule lend) has now spent almost two months as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Cattlemen's Beef Board. With 20-plus years in the beef industry, we recently spoke with Ruhland about what future beef checkoff programs hope to accomplish under her leadership.
Ruhland 1: “Our first goal is smooth and efficient operations of the checkoff. The Cattlemen’s Beef Board is responsible for administration and oversight of all those producer investments in the Beef Checkoff Program. And so it’s been a little bit of a bumpy road over the past little while and what we hope to do is continue to incorporate those improvements that mean that the checkoff functions smoothly and that producer-investors can be sure that they’re getting the best work possible for the money that they invest. So that’s my number one goal – smooth and efficient functioning of the checkoff. I would say my number two goal is to continue to make sure that our evaluation program keeps getting better so with the shrinking dollars that the checkoff has, we can continue to assure those producer-investors that we’re getting better and better at doing more with less.” (:44 seconds)
Ruhland explains what some of the bigger ticket items the checkoff is tackling right now.
Ruhland 2: “Well, you know the producer-leaders that serve on the Operating Committee each year decide how to invest the checkoff dollars that come in and always advertising is a big investment for the Operating Committee. We also spend quite a number of dollars on research and promotion but I can tell you that we have some pretty exciting things happening coming up in the area of convenience particularly. Consumers are very interested in their beef being very convenient. And by that I mean easy to prepare and easy to plan for but at the same time it has to be tasty because we know that the number one attribute that consumers love about beef is taste. So it’s a constant challenge to the beef industry to come up with new products and to improve existing products so that the convenience factor is there for consumers but also so that we don’t lose any of that fantastic taste that they’ve come to expect from us. So the checkoff is working on that. We’re also working on sustainability which is very important to consumers – increasingly important – consumers want to know where their food comes from and they want to know that their food is produced in a sustainable way. The beef industry particularly has an incredibly good story to tell as far as sustainability goes. So we’re involved in research to understand what those numbers are and then of course we’ll take that research and translate it to consumer messaging so that consumers can understand how sustainable the industry is and how we’ve improved sustainability.” (1:22 seconds)
The state/national partnership is integral to the success of the Beef Checkoff Program. Ruhland explains why this is so important.
Ruhland 3: “The partnership between the state beef councils and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board was absolutely fundamental to the way the checkoff was structured from the very beginning. And nothing has changed. The state beef councils perform absolutely essential functions for the national Beef Checkoff Program – collections for one, compliance for another, and of course the execution of programs as a primary contractor for the beef checkoff through the Federation of State Beef Councils. So that partnership that was there from the beginning is only stronger and is extremely important to the good functioning of the national Beef Checkoff Program.” (:35 seconds)
And on a more personal note, we asked Ruhland: What does it mean to you to be the CEO for the checkoff?
Ruhland 4: “Well, I’ll tell you it’s a tremendous honor – a little daunting – the responsibility is a big one. I have worked for producers for a very long time – directly for beef producers for a very long time. The responsibility I feel to them to make sure that their hard-earned dollars that they invest in the Beef Checkoff Program are well-spent and are returning to them – it’s a heavy responsibility but one that I’m absolutely thrilled to have and I promise producers that I will do my best for them as I have for 20 years. So very big honor, very big responsibility.” (:37 seconds)
For more about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.
SOCIAL MEDIA