CALF_News_June_July_2021

39 CALF News • June | July 2021 • www.calfnews.net ing the science such as that of my environmental hero, Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., of the University of California, Davis. Now, joining the team facing off against American agri- culture is billionaire Bill Gates of Microsoft fame. Gates surmises that, to save the planet, America and other economi- cally rich countries should convert totally to manmade meat, which he admits might not be as tasty but we would become accustomed to it. Meanwhile, he touts that lower income (third-world) countries should be able to continue eating animal-based meats. It doesn’t take much reading between his lines that this agenda is off base and economically flawed. While not exactly shunning meat production, I question the agenda of Whole Foods proclaiming the virtues of their beef to the extent that the cattle are fed a vegetarian diet. Do they mean their feed rations include native grasses, wheat pasture, alfalfa, tricale, corn and grain sorghum? Or is it baby carrots and Le Sueur peas? Traversing the aisles in any of their outlets, their agenda with ploys like this and the customers’ willingness to pay pre- mium prices for their products do seem to work. With all these socialist agendas taking aim at everything that makes America great and, significantly, the beef and agriculture industries, I find myself in a conundrum of sorts. I may be preaching to the choir as I’m sure that the vast major- ity of my readers believe as I do, but we still need to move our agenda forward to others; we are not just feeding the world but also preserving a way of life. With a tongue-in-cheek agenda jab at the above-mentioned retailer, I was amused by a bakery’s sidewalk chalkboard placard in my alma mater’s town, market- ing their doughnuts with “Eat More Hole Foods.”  down-to-earth, dirt-on-their-boots credibility. That’s what Timmerman is drawing on with his billboard project and his challenge to fellow beef producers to get closer to their consumer. The billboards now on display in Colorado will be up for a year. The law dictates that a billboard must be sponsored by a legitimate organization and Timmerman wants them to be an industry-wide effort, not just his feedyard. The funds to pay for the billboards come from donations from individuals, be they farmers, ranchers or others who wish to get the truth about fake meats out to the folks who need to hear it. Because the Colorado CattleWomen agrees with that sentiment, the association became the initial sponsoring organization. Future plans call for billboards to be erected in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. To that end, Timmerman has formed America’s Farmers and Ranchers Organization. That will become the sponsoring organization and the collec- tion point for all donations made to fund the billboard project. It will simply serve as a holding account for the money with 100 percent going to the project, nothing withheld. It will be dollars in, dollars out to produce the billboards and lease the space. “We’re seeing promotion toward the people in the industry,” he says. But those don’t reach consumers. “I want to see them when I go to New York and California.” And the message those consumers need to hear is that beef is a better, healthier, more sustainable food than a concoction of chemicals and compounds made in a factory. “We’ve got to show the benefits of our product vs. their product.” Much of the false information being lobbed at beef produc- ers is based on old or scientifically disproven information, such as that found in Livestock’s Long Shadow , an old publication from the United Nations that disparages beef. “We’ve come a long way in how we produce beef. Our efficien- cies, our humane handling are far and above what they’ve ever been. It’s just day and night fromwhat it was even 20 years ago,” he says. That’s the story beef producers need to tell. However, it’s not unlike two good ‘ol boys sitting on bar stools. “We can sit in the bar and solve all the world’s problems. But as soon as we walk out of the bar, that’s where it stays. We feel better talking about it, but there’s no action behind it,” he says. “We’ve got to wake up and start getting active toward our business. We can’t keep that arrogance that beef ’s been around for hundreds of years [and people will always eat it],” he declares. “We’ve got to start getting proactive in our business and start contradicting a lot of this stuff. Or we’ll wake up some day and see half the shelves in the supermarkets full of synthetic beef and half the shelves with real beef. They could take half our market.”  A CALL TO ARMS Continued from page 37 TERRITORY MANAGERS Clyde Smith (MS) 601-540-613 Chad Holt (TX) 903-272-5010 Kyle Latham (TX) 254-715-2162 Gary West (TN) 731-335-3023 Jeff Anslinger (MO) 816-244-7340 Emily Bendish (ND) 701-471-3067 Bryan Sundsbak (SD) 605-209-0559 Molly Folot (NE) 970-218-1185 Logan Kennedy (MO) 417-592-1764 info@mlstubs.com