American National CattleWomen Celebrate 60 Years
by Kindra Gordon for Angus Productions Inc.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 1, 2012) — “CattleWoman have been busy riding for the brand promoting beef and educating consumers,” said Jill Ginn in her remarks at the opening general session of the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tenn. The four-day event, convened Feb. 1-4, drew a record attendance of nearly 7,000 cattle producers and beef industry leaders.
Jill Ginn Photo by Kasey Miller
Ginn, of Granbury, Texas, served as president of the American National CattleWomen (ANCW) during 2011 — which also marked the 60th anniversary year for the organization. She reported that in 2011, nearly 1,600 ANCW members, representing 28 state affiliates, were involved with supporting and promoting the beef industry.
“Our primary focus is to mobilize our network of volunteers and to empower them to engage consumers and youth in powerful conversations about beef," Ginn said. "These conversations take many different shapes, from cooking conversations to animal well-being conversations. Each one helps Americans feel confident about including our safe and nutritious product in their diets.”
ANCW has seven national programs to promote beef; three are funded in part by the beef checkoff. Ginn shared highlights of the programs.
Examples of their activities include the 2011 National Beef Cook-Off®, which kicked off a national recipe contest for everyday home cooks last February. The Cook-Off provides a link for the voice and behavior of the consumer in the kitchen to the beef industry. Twenty Cook-Off beef recipes were also promoted to 25,000 consumers at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show in Washington, D.C., last November.
Additionally, the National Beef Ambassador Program (NBAP) was continued in 2011 and the team of five college students participated in five beef promotion consumer events in metropolitan areas in the Northeast, including Boston; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Syracuse; and Harrisburg. These events resulted in more than 100,000 personal consumer impressions and 1.5 million+ media impressions. Ambassadors also engaged in social media outreach via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the NBAP blog. More than 4,000 people each day are exposed to their positive social media messages and the NBAP YouTube channel had more than 1,000 views.
This year marked the inaugural season of ANCW’s new partially funded beef checkoff program, “Telling the Beef Story” and National Beef Speakers Bureau. A team of 20 CattleWomen from across the country were trained to serve as professional spokespersons for the beef industry and to share the beef story with youth groups and at consumer events in their communities.
Tammi Didlot, Moore, Okla., was elected 61st president of the ANCW during the organization’s 2012 Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
To learn more about ANCW’s programs, or to become a member visit: www.ancw.org.
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