A Consumer Driven System to Natural Beef Marketing

Project Overview

FNC98-239
Project Type: Farmer/Rancher
Funds awarded in 1998: $9,449.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2003
Region: North Central
State: Kansas
Project Coordinator:

Annual Reports

Commodities

  • Agronomic: corn, wheat, grass (misc. perennial), hay
  • Animals: bovine

Practices

  • Animal Production: feed/forage, housing, parasite control, animal protection and health, free-range, feed rations, manure management, mineral supplements, preventive practices, probiotics, grazing - rotational, vaccines, winter forage
  • Crop Production: windbreaks
  • Education and Training: extension, farmer to farmer, networking, on-farm/ranch research
  • Farm Business Management: whole farm planning, new enterprise development, budgets/cost and returns, cooperatives, feasibility study, agricultural finance, market study, risk management, value added
  • Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, habitat enhancement, riverbank protection
  • Pest Management: biological control, botanical pesticides, cultural control, economic threshold, physical control, sanitation, traps
  • Soil Management: green manures, organic matter, composting
  • Sustainable Communities: new business opportunities, partnerships, public participation, urban/rural integration, employment opportunities, social networks, sustainability measures

    Proposal summary:

    Consumer awareness of production practices and product quality is key to marketing, The objective of this project was to give small beef producers a competitive advantage by developing a customer-driven market. The coordinator’s strategy is based on product “localness” and customer environmental sensitivity, The coordinator wants to improve customers’ environmentally value-added concepts of natural beef, identify customers and track their satisfaction, use positive reinforcement to recognize and reward repeat customers, and empower meat managers to promote natural beef. A Quality System Certification Program (QSCR) Guide has been developed. The coordinator also upgraded kiosk graphics for an in-store consumer survey, developed a newsletter and planned a beef production and processing workshop for meat managers. The project has been extended to meet intended goals and assimilate data.

    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.