Grass-Fed Beef in the Southeast: from Seed to Plate

Project Overview

ES16-126
Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2016: $83,185.00
Projected End Date: 03/31/2019
Grant Recipient: Mississippi State University
Region: Southern
State: Mississippi
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Brandi Karisch
Email
Mississippi State University

Commodities

  • Agronomic: annual ryegrass, grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial), hay
  • Animals: bovine
  • Animal Products: meat

Practices

  • Animal Production: grazing management, meat product quality/safety
  • Education and Training: extension, workshop

    Proposal abstract:

    Mississippi State University in collaboration with Auburn University and Tuskegee University will develop trainings and host a conference to educate beef producers and Extension agents about grass-fed beef in the Southeast. The major objective of this program is to deliver educational information to beef producers through local and regional Extension agents to aid in their production of a high quality grass-fed beef product that is currently in demand by local consumers. Agents will be trained in 5 hands-on modules: forage, cattle, harvest and meat quality, food safety and legal, and economics and marketing. Agents will then deliver this training to clientele in their region. The culmination of the 2 year project will be a multi-state grass-fed beef conference that will highlight management practices from the training program through a combination of on-farm tours and one-day educational seminars. It is anticipated that through the trainings and conference, practices will be impacted that will allow beef producers in rural Mississippi and Alabama to improve the profitability and sustainability of their farms while improving environmental stewardship and management practices. The impact of this program will be evaluated through end of session surveys of all participants designed to access the relevance of the topics/speakers at the conference; anticipated use of presented practices; and total acreage/area impacted. This will provided needed feedback to adjust future educational programs and provide preliminary data on clientele who plan to implement these management strategies.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    Primary objective: Train the trainer programs

    Secondary objective: Producer education programs

    Tertiary objective: Consumer

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.