Pennsylvania Ag Connection - Pennsylvania Hosts Mid-Atlantic BQA Coordinator Meeting

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Pennsylvania Hosts Mid-Atlantic BQA Coordinator Meeting
Pennsylvania Ag Connection - 05/06/2016

The Pennsylvania Beef Council, in conjunction with the support and guidance of the Producer Education Team at the National Cattleman's Beef Association (NCBA), hosted and facilitated the Mid-Atlantic Regional Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) State Coordinators Meeting in State College. The group consisted of 14 educators within the Mid-Atlantic Region spanning from Maine through Virginia. Attendees were extremely engaged and took the opportunity to strengthen their existing programs, continuing to make BQA a platform within their state for producer education.

BQA is a nationally coordinated, state implemented program that provides systematic information to beef and dairy producers, as well as beef consumers, regarding common sense husbandry techniques that can be coupled with accepted scientific knowledge to raise cattle under optimum management and environmental conditions. BQA guidelines are designed to make certain all beef consumers can take pride in what they purchase -- and can trust and have confidence in the entire beef industry.

The efforts of BQA across the nation have been instrumental in recent successes that continue to re-build and sustain beef demand. The Mid-Atlantic Alliance has deep roots, coming together to share, collaborate and learn together for more than 10+ years. BQA programs have evolved to include best practices around good record keeping and protecting herd health. When better quality cows leave the farm and reach the market place, the producer, packer and consumer all benefit. When better quality beef reaches the supermarket, consumers are more confident in the beef they are buying, and this increases beef consumption.

The Mid-Atlantic Meeting brought together a number of feature speakers and industry professionals, all tying into the main focus of quality beef - from farm to plate. Dr. Dave Wolfgang, Penn State Extension Veterinarian, and Dr. Jonathan Campbell, Penn State Extension Meat Specialist, played a large role in educating the group and honed in on the win-win-win approach taking into account the welfare/condition of the animal, a safe and high quality product for the consumer, and a sustainable production method for the producer.

In addition to support by NCBA, many thanks to our industry sponsor, Multimin USA, Inc., for their partnership in making this opportunity possible. "This was an excellent seminar," noted Cindy Kilgore, Maine Department of Agriculture. "We have a great deal of take-home information that we can share with our beef and dairy farmers." BQA is all about continuous improvement and can be a great producer story to share regarding the industry's commitment to providing a safe, quality and wholesome beef for American families to enjoy.

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