November 16, 2007

Several University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Nebraska Department of Agriculture and Nebraska Beef Council resources are available to help beef producers learn more about raising cattle for the international beef market.

For U.S. beef to be eligible for export to countries like Japan, Korea or those in the European Union, production must be done as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beef Export Verification (BEV) program, said Darrell Mark, UNL livestock marketing specialist.

To learn more about the requirements of these programs, the marketing opportunities available and how Processed Verified Programs (PVP) and Quality Systems Assessment (QSA) programs are used to qualify beef for export, producers can go to the International Marketing link at http://beef.unl.edu/international.shtml on UNL's Beef Cattle Production Web site.

"This allows producers to go to one spot to find all of the resources available to them," Mark said. "If producers are interested in marketing their beef internationally, they need to make sure they are correctly documenting and verifying information about the cattle, including age and source, when they are weaning their calves and before they leave their ranch."

On the site, producers can find archived materials from recent international beef marketing programs, university and industry publications and other resources and links to USDA sites.

"We continue to see growing demand for age- and source-verified animals," said Greg Ibach, Nebraska Department of Agriculture director. "We encourage producers to access this online material and consider whether changes to their operations could improve the marketability of their livestock, and possibly their profitability."

Ann Marie Bosshamer, executive director of the Nebraska Beef Council, said, "With 96%of the world's population outside of the U.S., our real market potential is the international market. People across the globe appreciate the high quality beef we raise here in Nebraska, and it is essential for us to market our product effectively and age- and source-verification is one step in that process."

Other resources on the Web site: 

• A recent beef marketing program includes video, slides and a spreadsheet to help assist producers in evaluating how participation in PVP and QSA programs may affect their operation. 
• UNL Extension NebGuide, Beef Export Verification Programs: What Should Cattle Producers Do? (G1637), offers information for producers about beef verification programs. It is available at local extension offices or online.

Producers also can access background about the programs by going to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture Web site at http://www.agr.ne.gov and clicking on International Beef Market Opportunities.

Sandi Alswager Karstens
IANR News Service