NCBA Convention: The #followmetotennessee experience

Last week was by far my favourite since being here in the States. Last Monday, a crew of 35 K-State Collegiate Cattlemen and Cattlewomen boarded a bus, bound for the 12 hour drive to Nashville, Tennessee. There we attended the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Convention and Trade show, which was held from February 4th - 7th. The event attracted almost 8000 people, with 300 exhibitors in the trade show, that stretched across 5.7 acres. The convention included committee meetings, general information sessions as well as interactive question and answer sessions. Some of the events that I attended included:

• CattleFax 2014 U.S. global protein & grain outlook seminar
• General sessions
• Outlook session on the the architecture of consumer demand
• Collegiate leadership round table
• NCBA Young Producers Council meeting

In addition to this, there were plenty of opportunities to network and socialise, particularly with the Cowboys Night at the Opry, which featured Little Big Town, Diamond Rio, Sarah Darling and more.

The General sessions were among my favourite. These sessions included speakers Captain Richard Phillips and Archie Manning, who provided great inspiration as they talked about leadership and how they came to be leaders themselves. Captain Phillips' story was incredible - he was captain of the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia, when he was attacked by pirates and stuck in a lifeboat with them for days. Not only was his story courageous, but his message to us was that you just never know how strong you are until you are put into a position that presents risk and challenge. This had a strong connection as it is linked to not only farming families but challenges that the agricultural industry my face as a whole. From a different field again, Archie Manning, spoke about the leadership lessons that he had learned as 'a player, a businessman, and a father'. Archie is a 14-year veteran quarterback and has two Superbowl champion quarterback sons. This presentation was very personal and inspiring. Archie told us about his life and how he had to just step up and be a leader.

Captain Richard Philips sent a very strong message about the unknown strength within when in a leadership role. 

On the topic of leadership, the Peterson Farm Bros, famous for their farming parodies our proudly from Kansas State and were there to perform some of their songs for us. We were shown that this is an example of just how people of my generation are able to take a new direction in agricultural leadership. It really was fantastic to see that there was such great recognition given to those three young men. They have had millions of hits on YouTube for their parodies. Here is a link to Chore (Roar Parody), one of their parodies that they performed for us at the General Session: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toyN81wZzLw

The Peterson Farm Bros did a great job entertaining the audience as well as demonstrated the fantastic job they are doing as young leaders in the agricultural industry. 

The CattleFax Outlook was very interesting. There were many keynote speakers who gave presentations on outlooks for the economy, weather, protein and grain for 2014 for the U.S. and their competitors. Some of the key notes that I took away from this was for the year 2014:

• strong inflation of beef in China as both a luxury and key item
• Australia's export of ground beef to China to keep tightening America's supply to China
• reduced domestic beef production
• 78 million more global consumers
• the Chinese 'middle' class of 300 million will increase to 640 million in the next 6 years
• the US and South America should be set for a reasonably good year weather wise, while unfortunately El Nino will continue to influence the Australian weather pattern

The Collegiate Leadership Round Table was a great event to attend. It included leaders such as John Stika, President of Certified Angus Beef, Forrest Roberts, CEO of NCBA, Craig Huffines, Executive Vice President of the Hereford Association and Dr. Molly McAdams, a guest speaker at NCBA who has had more than 20 years experience in research, brand marketing and product development. This was an interactive session that enabled us to answer questions about strategies that we can use to be good leaders and also have open discussion about leadership experiences.

University students deep in discussion at the round table with Dr. Molly McAdams. 

The Young Producers Council meeting featured guest speaker Luke Snyder, who spoke about his life and career as a professional bull rider and how he worked to win the 2001 PBR Rookie of the Year and then the Last Cowboy Standing title in 2011. There was a lot of focus on his key drivers for motivation, as well as keeping a balance to his personal life and career as a bull rider. He also spoke about how important role models were when he started and how important they are now that he has finished bull riding.

Professional bull rider, Luke Snyder presenting at the Young Producers Council meeting. 

The trade show covered every aspect of the beef industry one could possibly think of. One of the many booths that I stopped to visit was the Certified Angus Beef booth, where there were demonstrations on breaking up beef carcasses. In addition to this, there were Certified Angus Beef appetizers around the whole trade show for everyone to sample. I was able to meet John Stika, the President of Certified Angus Beef and some of the people that work there.

Breaking up beef carcasses attracted many visitors to stop by and ask questions about different beef cuts. 

As you can see, it was a great week in Nashville and I must thank the Collegiate Cattlewomen from Kansas State University for hosting me on the trip. These women all have an interest in agriculture and in particular the welfare of the beef industry. They work together as a group to 'agvocate' through promotion of beef products throughout the state.

The Kansas State Collegiate Cattlewomen stop to get a photo with the Peterson Farm Bros, from Kansas also.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Forsyth.