07/11/08 Cattlemen's summer meeting

Producers from Idaho and around the country will be in Denver next Tuesday through Saturday at the annual Cattle Industry Summer Conference. National Cattlemen's Beef Association president-elect Gary Voogt says they have issues that must be addressed. VOOGT "The failed energy policies of the United States. The new business about climate change, just feed grain prices in general are going to change everything that we do about business. We're going to have to depend on the committees to recognize that we're in a new ball game and we're going to have to be nimble and adapt to the new world." That, says Voogt, means that you can't play by the old rules, the previous way of doing business. VOOGT "I hope that we have an appreciation for each others problems but that we can come together under one big tent and move the whole organization forward. What we're going to have to do is all take the big picture and understand what its like to walk in somebody else's moccasins." He sees this as a critical time for building and driving beef demand. He wants two important issues to be discussed next week. One is the enhancement of the checkoff and the strengthening of the federation to make sure that the money is used as wisely as can be. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott