Beef Program to Pay Dividends to Pa. Producers

Charlene M. Shupp
Espenshade
Special Sections Editor

CAMP HILL, Pa. — A year’s worth of hard work and planning became reality this week as Weis Markets unveiled its Pennsylvania Proud Choice Angus Beef Program.

Weis is the largest supermarket chain nationally to take on this type of endeavor — and it will be marketing Pennsylvania-produced Angus beef.

“You read the food pages and you see an interesting trend — it’s called the ‘Slow Food’ movement,” said Weis CEO Norm Rich, Wednesday at the Camp Hill Weis Store. He noted that “Slow Food” is a popular consumer trend, of which local food is a big part.

“Our Pennsylvania Proud Choice Angus Beef program is the logical extension for our commitment to buying local and selling the best Pennsylvania has to offer,” Rich said.

Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff said the buy local concept has several benefits for all Pennsylvanians, including a reduction of the carbon footprint for the beef’s transportation costs, improved beef freshness and the placement of money back into the state’s rural economy.

“This partnership between the department, the Beef Council and Weis Markets is a fine example of how the agriculture industry and local businesses can work together to promote Pennsylvania products to help grow the industry,” said Wolff.

Wolff also presented a May is Beef Month proclamation from Gov. Ed Rendell.

Also in attendance were House Republican Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Chair Art Hershey (R-13) and Kristin Crawford, staff member for the state Senate’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. Both presented resolutions from each houses recognizing Beef Month.

Hershey, a dairy farmer from Chester County, said programs like this marketing partnership are needed for producers. Crawford, whose family operates an Angus beef farm in Lancaster County, shared her thoughts on the importance of new programs to keep the next generation on the farm.

The “Pennsylvania Proud Choice Angus Beef” program features PA Preferred beef produced by 10 Pennsylvania Angus breeders from Lancaster, Schuylkill and Chester counties. Producers are certified under the beef quality assurance program, a national program administered locally by the Pennsylvania Beef Council that provides guidelines for beef cattle production before beef can qualify for the PA Preferred program. Participating producers are paid a premium for beef that qualifies into the program.

Pennsylvania Proud Choice Angus Beef will be available in 23 Weis Market stores beginning this week. The beef will be available in the self service meat case and at the meat counter in the selected stores.

Eric Jenson of Pineland Farm said this program is a unique concept because all segments of the beef industry are working together. “It wasn’t one aspect against the other,” he said. “We are just taking a product to the marketplace and hopefully saving family farms.”

Paul Slayton of the Pennsylvania Beef Council said this program is a return on investment for the producer’s $1 per head checkoff payment.

“It’s great to be able to give a return on investment to producers who have paid the checkoff for more than 20 years. I am particularly proud that we have used this checkoff dollar and put it back into a meat case where you can see the return on your investment,” he said. He noted the program has never been done with a retailer of this size nationally, making this partnership a one-of-a-kind.

He reminded producers that in light of recent events, they must continue to educate the consumer about the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program, making the program “transparent” to the consumer. The BQA program requires that producers follow a set of animal care guidelines.

“What we need to do better is transfer what is going on at the farm and what producers are doing right to the consumers,” he said.