Panhandle Bank, Food Agency
Team Up To Reduce Beef Glut

AMARILLO — A West Texas bank, concerned about the glut of meat holding down cattle prices, has launched its own effort to move surplus beef out of the market.

Herring National Bank has joined with the High Plains Food Bank in their Meat the Need program, challenging cattlemen and industry groups to donate cattle and beef to the food bank. Herring says it will match donations of beef up to an as yet undefined point.

"For the last several weeks, if not months, we've been concerned about the price of cattle and all the cattle out there," says Terry Wright, vice president with Herring National Bank.

He says it did not appear that the public at large realized the dire straits of the cattle market.

"In trying to decide what to do to call attention to the problem," he says, "we came up with the idea to challenge the community and the industry around here in the area to do something. Our idea of what to do was to use the supply up. You simply can't go dump it like they do in Europe."

He says the bank, with locations in Amarillo, Vernon and Clarendon, would purchase 1000 pounds of beef and donate it to the food bank for distribution among various charities.

"In doing that, we also challenged the other members in the industry and individuals in the community that for each pound of beef they donated, we would match it up to a certain level," he says. "The well does have a bottom to it."

Wright says it is time for the hardships that a lot cattlemen have been going through to stop.

"We just thought that it was time somebody did something," Wright says.

Herring donated 1000 pounds of beef that first day. Wright says he hopes that will get the program going.

"I am so thrilled with it, I can just hardly stand it," says Janie Davis, director of High Plains Food Bank.

The challenge was first announced on Oct. 8, and by the time that day was over, the High Plains Food Bank had already started receiving a favorable response from area cattlemen.

"Already we've had about $1000 worth of money donated that will allow us to buy beef," Davis says. "That ought to give us pretty close to 2000 pounds of beef. We also had one cattleman call us, and he's donating a steer."

The High Plains Food Bank in Amarillo has used this theme for a number of years, Wright says.

"They work with small packers around the region," he says. "If individuals just want to donate a steer, the packers will dress that out at no charge to the person making the donation. All they have to do is bring the animal in to the packer; they'll dress it out and make sure the meat gets to the food bank."

Normally, they don't get much meat, though the High Plains Food Bank has had this Meat the Need program since 1994.

Davis began thinking about four years ago that there were few food producers in the Panhandle.

"Then it just dawned on me that our greatest commodity is beef," Davis says, "yet we just never ever had beef donated to the food bank."

She says the food bank works hard to have a nutritionally well-rounded supply of food.

"Of course, protein is a big part of that," Davis says. "That means beef."

Davis says she's worked with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

"I just went to them," Davis says, "and asked, 'Why is it I never get beef?' They told me I had to make it user-friendly. A cattleman or feedlot isn't going to pay a cowboy to drive 120 miles into Amarillo to bring a donated steer."

She set about traveling the Panhandle and getting state or federally inspected processors lined up. They have 10 processors now. No one has to travel very far. They can go into Stratford or Dalhart or Tulia or Canadian or different places to take their steers.

"We've got processors set up throughout the entire Texas Panhandle," says Davis, "so if anybody wants to donate a live steer, they can contact us and we can give them the name of the processors."

All a cattleman has to do is take it to a local processor that is working with the food bank, and the processor will know what to do with it, Davis says.

"We'd be thrilled to death with any of the live steer donations," she says. "If they donate the steer, we'd just take care of all the rest."

Many of the packers don't charge the food bank for processing the beef, she says, but some charge a nominal fee. Cash donations are used to purchase beef and to pay any fees the processors may charge.

"We can take beef on the hoof, or we can take cash and convert it to beef," Davis says.

"It's a step," Wright says. "We're hoping other people will get involved, maybe not only locally, but throughout the region, and we'll go from one step to a couple of steps to maybe getting some movement of this meat out of the pipeline. That's what we're doing."

He says they are hoping that those small steps will lead to a stampede and help move some of the beef in the marketplace.

"We certainly have ties to the rural community," Wright says. "Actually, the bank was started by Col. C.T. Herring, who was a cattleman back at the turn of the century. He started the bank back in 1899 in Vernon. Our ties are certainly with agriculture and the cattlemen."

Davis says the food bank is like a big grocery store for all the non-profit organizations and churches in the area, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles.

"Our service area is 30,000 square miles," Davis says. "We have 170 agencies that get food from the food bank."

They offer donated food that comes in through reclamation centers and grocery stores, she says.

"A good portion of it is what comes off the shelves that maybe the consumer's not going to buy, but it's perfectly good food," Davis says. "We're also part of the Second Harvest Network that is the national food bank network out of Chicago."

The High Plains Food Bank here is one of 180 food banks across the nation.

"We are averaging about 240,000 pounds of food a month that goes out of our warehouse, so you know how much we have to have come in," Davis says. "If we can salvage 60 to 70 percent of it, we feel like we've done something. The rest of it has to be thrown out."

This year Davis thinks they will distribute close to three million pounds of food.

"We're probably one of the smaller food banks when you compare us to Houston and Dallas," Davis says. "We're small, but we're mighty."

Davis says they serve two different kinds of agencies.

"We have an emergency pantry program where people can come in off the street and a family can get sacks of groceries to take home and prepare," she says. "And we have on-site feeding, like soup kitchens and day care centers and senior centers."

For an agency to be able to use the food bank, they have to be a non-profit organization or a church.

"Our emergency pantries are serving about 5000 families a month," Davis says. "The on-site agencies are serving about 154,000 meals a month. Most of that food comes from the food bank."

Davis says the need is great, but the food bank is growing and expanding, and with help like that from the bank, they can now offer beef, a premium food that is often not available to them.

"The majority of the families that are getting food from our agencies are employed, but they are minimum wage workers," she says. "They are the working poor. They cannot make enough to feed their families. Maybe a mom has a couple children and has had to go back to work and she can't make enough by the time she pays day care and stuff. Those are the majority of people that are getting food from the agencies. We have the homeless and the transients, but most of ours are the working poor."

The food bank couldn't afford to buy beef to have it at the food bank, Davis says.

"When Herring National Bank came to us and said they'd like to do something tied in with beef and would like to help, I said, 'Boy, you have come to talk to the right person,'" Davis says. "We have it all in place. We were just thrilled to death. I'm sure it's not going to make any enormous impact on the cattle market, but I hope it makes some. I hope it makes people aware of beef. Of course, I just love beef."

Davis says she realizes that many people are eating fish and chicken now, but people in the Panhandle would be surprised how many people do not have beef on their table and never have beef on their table because they can't afford anything.

"They're not getting the benefit of our greatest commodity, which is beef," Davis says. "We're really thrilled. We have to count on the community to help with all of our food collection, but where beef is concerned, this is really a neat, neat deal that Herring National is doing for us."

Wright says anyone wishing to donate beef can call the High Plains Food Bank at (806) 374-8562.