Certified Angus Beef is known as a gold standard when it comes to branded beef programs. Speaking at the recent Animal Agriculture Alliance John Stika, President of Certified Angus Beef. He says CAB is indeed been the trail blazar when it come to branded beef programs in this country and at the same time folks surrounding CAB are excited about the future.
"We have been very fortunate to have a very fruitful past and it makes us excited about what's in front of us and there is no doubt that in 1978 when this brand was started as the first branded beef program out there, there were a lot of challenges," Stika said. "But the early success and the ability to build a strong foundation built on quality and things consumers value has really been a big part of the momentum that we built as this whole brand beef movement has really caught sail and really is growing rapidly in the industry today".
"Sales are extremely strong, we've got the highest beef prices we've seen and we are on pace right now to be four to five percent up over a year ago and on pace to have our eighth consecutive year of record sales"Stika said.
The record numbers are being made on bigger numbers at a time when the US cowherd is shrinking.
"I think that says a lot about our industry's ability, the beef community's ability, to really tailor to the needs of consumers," Stika said. "Consumer have indicted that they want quality and if they are going to be asked to pay a higher price, they expect more in return of that higher price".
"Producers across the beef community have responded by putting more cattle out there with the genetics and with the management to hit a higher quality endpoint and I think that's what we are seeing with the consumer's ability to pay more money for a higher quality product,"Stika said.
One of the reasons Certified Angus Beef program is out in front is the genetics and the testing and ifnormation that breeders have to select a better quality animal everytime they go through a breeding process.
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