This week I was fortunate enough to hear from MLA's marketing team, wanting to know more about the producer and consumer gap.
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After running through the statistics it was clear that there is a huge percentage of consumers that are not aware of the history of their beef, nor are they chasing it.
There is also good percentage of consumers who feel very good about choosing beef as their protein, and only a minority who are 'anti beef', but they are the group making the noise.
The statistics shows the majority of consumers are on our side. The minority groups unfortunately are the groups we always hear about.
We feel the threat is far worse than what it is. I'm not saying its all roses out there, but we need to change our defensive state of mind and not engage with them near as much.
The group I spoke of above is probably the most powerful to tap into. We need them to be proud that they choose beef, and if people try to shame them, provide them with strong ammunition to counter this.
While this group has the biggest potential it also has the biggest risk. The more information they receive the more they will form an opinion.
However, long term I believe we need them to join the 'proud to eat beef' group. To ensure that they can be proud of our protein we need to ensure that our image and backyard are constantly improving.
Instead of complaining that there is more red tape in our industry, we need to continue to come up with ways that ensure the latest best practice is always as the forefront of our operation.
Further to this I encourage you, next time before you share that post on Facebook to think; how does this make our industry look? And, what message is it likely to portray to the consumer?
- Sam Becker, CQ cattleman
