Those who forge new paths leave a trail others can follow. When it came to the first women leader of a major cattle industry group—the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) which later became the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA)—JoAnn Smith hopes her example showed young women that industry leadership is a real possibility.
Despite being the first woman leader in a number of cattle industry positions, JoAnn Smith started off just the same way so many men in the industry do; working on the family ranch.
“We grew up at the end of World War II when the labor situation was limited and equipment and so forth were limited,” she told WLJ. “There were two girls—I only have one sister. We were Daddy’s boys.”
Her father taught them everything about the day-to-day operation of the ranch and the cattle. She added, “I didn’t realize how special it was until I got older. It was an everyday life kind of thing.”
When she married Cedric Smith, JoAnn continued being involved in the daily, hands-on routine of his family’s cattle operation and small feedyard. As Cedric became more and more involved in the leadership of their regional cattlemen’s associations, JoAnn was right beside him there too.
“I became involved with what is currently NCBA back when there was a proposal for the first beef referendum and Beef Checkoff Program. I represented the Cattlewomen on the committee that tried to develop and pass that first checkoff.”
Things in the cattle industry were difficult at that point according to Smith’s description. She attributed this to the late-’70s release of the “McGovern dietary guidelines”—referring to the nutritional guidelines drafted by the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs that was chaired by Sen. George McGovern (D-SD).
“We had a tremendous movement of consumer sentiment,” Smith described, noting that the guidelines described beef as too fat and too high in cholesterol to be heart healthy.
“Beef was just getting slammed from every side,” she went on. “We had never had to sell ourselves like we were needing to sell ourselves—meaning our product—and that it was safe and wholesome.”
This was a changing environment where producers had to listen to consumers like they never had before. In this environment, Smith described her position as a woman as being an asset.
“I think it was really a positive that women—who at that time were doing most of the meal purchasing and the meal preparation—thought they could probably relate to a woman more so than maybe a man,” she explained.
“I think the fact that I was woman and a mom and fed a family helped them to be a little more accepting me as well as my product when I said we are producing a more lean product and have taken the fat excess off.”
Smith was not the only one who saw the changing situation and the importance of a woman’s voice at the table.
“There were men in the cattleman’s organization who saw that ahead of time and said, ‘It’s time for a woman in this organization and we think that person should be you.’”
It was also a tough time in 1985, when Smith became the president of NCA. The economy was bad and the financial crisis was hitting farms and ranches hard.
“Dairy prices were down, milk was down, all the commodities were really bad, and people were losing their ranches. That was the hardest part,” she told WLJ.
She acknowledged that she faced some tough times herself—skepticism and curiosity for the most part—but that she felt supported all the way by the organization.
“I felt from day one I had the support of what was NCA at the time,” she said. “I always felt like they were walking with me. I never felt like I was out front and they were behind. That was a real plus for everybody and a tremendous plus for getting things accomplished. There was just a cohesive, ‘We can do this together’ kind of attitude. I felt that from day one.”
That collaborative attitude was a point of pride for Smith when it came to getting the Beef Checkoff Program passed in 1985.
“With trying to get a checkoff program through Congress, we knew that we could not pass it alone with just NCA. We had to reach out to the Dairy Association and the Milk Producers Association, the Farm Bureau, Grange, the Marketing Association, all of these entities that we had to say, ‘Will you help us?’ In extending a hand in trying to work together we became stronger, and I’m proud of that.”
When asked about her experience as a woman in D.C. trying to get the Checkoff passed, she said she was treated with respect by the elected officials specifically.
“Now, notice I used the term elected officials,” she admonished, chuckling. She pointed out that elected officials need “JoAnn’s vote just as much as they needed Cedric’s.”
“Yes, there were times when they were shocked, and they had to adjust to me being in leadership, but that was their problem, okay?” she added, laughing.
Despite her generally good experience of being a woman in beef industry leadership in the 1980s, Smith described the situation today as very different.
“When looking at my son and daughter’s generation, women are treated very, very well. There is just not the differentiation between male and female that there was back 35 years ago. It’s just not there. A qualified woman in any of the professions is accepted just as much as a man today.”
Smith acknowledged that there are still issues to be addressed, but that there is growing presence of women—especially young women—in all areas of the working environment, including the cattle industry and its leadership.
“I see this as a continuing movement of integration and migration with women and men in leadership in organizations and business,” she said. “There are many of these young women today that are getting degrees in animal science, they’re going back to family ranches and operations, and maybe they don’t have brothers. There’s just a lot happening out here with opportunities for women.”
Specifically, as a female leader in the beef industry, Smith said that she hoped her “tenure helped to open eyes that, yes, women could move up into leadership in the cattle industry at the state and local level.” — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
