Mexican Media Learns About
U.S. Beef Production System

Seven Mexican journalists toured Texas cattle and beef operations recently to report on the U.S. beef industry’s technology and production processes. Their visit coincided with record quantities of U.S. beef entering their country.

The journalists’ visit was funded by the $1 per head beef checkoff program through the U.S. Meat Export Federation and the Texas Beef Council.

The journalists represented national print and broadcast media companies in Mexico, and many also publish or broadcast to other Spanish-speaking countries.

"Beef checkoff dollars brought these media to Texas so that they can report factually in Mexico about how U.S. beef is produced," said Gilberto Lozano, director of the USMEF-Mexico office. "This helps our sales, because these prominent journalists are better able to respond to myths spread by our competitors worried about the growing market share of U.S. beef in Mexico."

Last year, U.S. beef exports to Mexico hit record levels, according to USDA figures. Sales volume increased 64 percent over 1996 to total 145,959 metric tons. In dollars, sales increased 74 percent to more than $345 million. Mexico vaulted over South Korea and Canada to win the No. 2 spot behind Japan as major U.S. beef buyers.

On the beef checkoff-funded tour through Texas, the Mexican media representatives learned about every facet of beef production from an embryo to an entree. The program started at Elgin Breeding Service in Elgin, where technician Brad Cardwell backgrounded the group on improving beef production through technologies like artificial insemination and embryo transfer.

The journalists then visited Diamond A Ranch at Dime Box, owned by Jerry and Julie Armstrong, to view a cattle operation and to learn about production processes.

The following day, the media traveled to the Texas Panhandle to visit Littlefield Feedyard, owned by Friona Industries Inc., at Amherst. Friona CEO James Herring briefed the journalists on how the company works with Mexican cattlemen to feed cattle. He also provided an hour-long interview on the beef industry to Eduardo Torreblanca, director of financial news for Televisa, a national network that will broadcast the interview to Mexico, Central and South America, Spain and Northern Africa.

The media representatives then visited the Excel plant in Plainview to look at fabrication of a beef carcass and food safety measures, including USDA inspection and HACCP protocols. They closed the visit out in Dallas with a tour of the state-of-the-art Freedman Food Service plant and a briefing on cattle industry economics by Bret Fox, a cattle analyst with Cattle-Fax.

After the tour, the reporters said their eyes were opened to the efficiency of the U.S. beef industry.

"The dominance of the (U.S. beef) industry and the capacity of its resources were what impressed me the most," said Marco Campillo, a business reporter for TV Azteca, another national network. "Its use of technology to not only produce for the U.S. consumer, but also for the consumer in my country and Japan was also highly impressive."

Aurelio Bueno, business writer for El Financiero, said he now better understands the production system of U.S. beef.

"I know more about the genetics of cattle to how beef comes out of the packing plant," Bueno said. "This tour has helped me understand how the product is developed from the beginning of an egg to when it is eaten as a cut of beef."

TBC and USMEF have cooperated on educating foreign media teams about U.S. beef for five years, said Alan Smith of Caprock Industries, Amarillo, a member of the boards of directors of both TBC and USMEF. Most of these media teams have been from Mexico, but last year USMEF brought a team from Japan. Several other Asian countries also have indicated an interest in sending a team in the future.

"Because Texas has such a great beef infrastructure, we can show foreign journalists the complete production picture of the beef industry in a short time," Smith said. "Thanks to the state’s beef producers, we have been able to use checkoff dollars to educate foreign media, who in turn educate their consumers, about the many positive qualities of U.S. beef."