We’re all familiar with the concept of “outcome-based grazing.” Namely, rather than asking if a grazing plan is done a certain way, we should ask if a grazing strategy achieves its management goals.
This outcome-based, goal-focused approach can apply to more than grazing in the beef industry, however. For instance, there’s a lot of communication efforts going on in our industry right now. With each new communication effort—be it organized, grassroots, or individual—I find myself asking, “How does this serve the ultimate goal of the beef industry?”
But what IS the ultimate goal of the beef industry?”
Since there’s no beef industry without beef demand from consumers, I think it’s safe to say the ultimate goal of the beef industry is “sell beef.”
It’s more nuanced than that, of course. Most people want to sell THEIR beef, and to do it in a profitable, sustainable, ethical manner that can foster a ranch and a way of life that can be passed on to the next generation. But the core running through all potential, nuanced personal goals still involves “sell beef.”
If you are selling genetics, you’re selling the means to make better beef. If you are selling calves, you’re selling beef on the (younger) hoof. If you are selling fed or cull cattle, you’re selling soon-to-be beef. If you are selling beef to grocery stores, you’re selling beef. If you are selling beef to consumers, you’re selling beef. If you’re in a beef industry-adjacent job, you’re helping others sell beef.
It’s all about selling beef.
So back to the issue of industry communication. Some of the recent notable efforts are organized by industry groups, like the campaign to get USMCA moving in Congress and last week’s #FairCattleMarkets Twitter campaign. Some are smaller grassroots or more organic efforts, like last week’s industry response to a suggestion made by TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres’ that people eat less meat. Others are simply reactions from individuals in response to recent events, like the countless individual comments made and shared by members of the beef industry on various social media platforms last week in reaction to the United Nation’s Climate Summit, especially focused on Greta Thunberg’s speech.
Some of these and other communication efforts make sense. Others… less so.
For example, I’ve been seeing the industry use the same sort of chemophobic scare tactics against fake meat that we decry when they’re used against us. I’ve also seen phrases like “factory food” thrown around about fake meat, even though we battle against that emotion-filled, meaningless, fear-tactic phrase when applied to us. How does that kind of communication behavior sell beef?
The most baffling to me are the comments, made by groups and individual people in the beef industry alike, that attack or insult our consumers. You know—the people who we ultimately sell beef to?
According to Gallup Poll data, 92 percent of Americans are meat eaters. The same source says 40 percent of registered Americans are Independents, 29 percent are Democrats, and 27 percent are Republicans.
This column was written when the 2019 Aug 1-14 party affiliation data was the most recent. The data is updated periodically, meaning the actual breakdown may have changed.
The U.S. Census Bureau says only 19.3 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural counties, while the same proportion—63.2 million people—live in JUST 10 of the country’s largest coastal metro areas (New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Baltimore, Portland, and San Jose). That’s to say nothing of the other, non-coastal metro areas or the vast suburban populations.
All this says to me that every insult or “joke” made about Democrats, “coastal urban elites,” city folks, or similar supposed “others” (or the topics they care about) is almost certainly an attack on our customers.
How does attacking our customers sell beef?
I can sympathize with the motivation to lash out. It’s annoying that “they” don’t understand what you do. It’s tiring to feel “they” are constantly attacking you, your profession, and your way of life. It’s enraging when “they” seem to intentionally misrepresent your actions and motivations. But when it comes to communication, how does “othering” and attacking our customers sell beef?
Without our customers and their demand for beef, we have no industry. We need to take an outcome-based approach to communication just like we do with grazing and ask ourselves, collectively and individually, if our communication behavior serves the industry’s ultimate goal. Does it sell beef? — KERRY HALLADAY
