Nebraska ag officials want beef produced in the state to be labeled

Nebraska ag officials want beef produced in the state to be labeled

By Barbara Soderlin / World-Herald staff writer

3.16.17

KEARNEY, Neb. — Would you pay more for a steak if you knew it came from Nebraska?

State ag officials believe consumers will, potentially boosting the value of cattle for ranchers and feedlots here.

They’re close to launching a marketing program that will promote “certified beef from Nebraska” — meat from cattle born and raised in the state.

A new logo with that slogan could appear on beef packages at supermarkets as well as on restaurant menus in the U.S. and overseas.

Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach told an audience Wednesday at the annual Governor’s Ag Conference that the new marketing effort comes under a U.S. Department of Agriculture program.

The Process Verified Program allows producers to show consumers that their product meets certain claims, whether it’s cage-free eggs, or meat that’s traceable to certain farms or that has never been treated with antibiotics.

Ibach’s office is opening conversations with meatpacking plants in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado that process Nebraska beef about using the label. The first customers they would try to sell on the program would be companies that import and distribute Nebraska beef overseas, he said.

Marketing efforts in the last decade have increased Nebraska’s share of U.S. beef exports.

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