April
5, 2013
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For
more information contact:
Steve
Suther, Certified Angus Beef LLC Industry Information Director, at 785-889-4162
or ssuther@certifiedangusbeef.com;
or
Morgan
Slaven, Industry Information Intern, at mslaven@certifiedangusbeef.com
PHOTOS:
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Scholarships
Reward Future Beef Industry Leaders
The Certified
Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand awarded $21,000 to seven
university students through its Colvin Scholarship Fund, in recognition of
their leadership and achievement at the community and beef industry levels.
Developed in 1999 upon the retirement of
Louis M. “Mick” Colvin, the Fund evokes the CAB co-founder and 21-year CEO’s
role in making dreams a reality and inspiring others to be their best.
2013
Undergraduate Colvin Scholarship Awards:
$5,000 – Paige Wallace, Stotts City, Mo. – Oklahoma State University
$4,000 – Mollie Lastovica,
Fredericksburg, Texas – Texas A&M University
$3,000 – Malorie
Bankhead, Livermore, Calif. – California Polytechnic State University
$2,000 – Kassandra
Pfeiffer, Orlando, Okla. – Oklahoma State University
$1,000 – Reagan Kays,
Weir, Kan. - Kansas State University
2013
Graduate Colvin Scholarship Awards:
$5,000 – Bryan Bernhard, Stillwater,
Okla. – Oklahoma State University
$1,000 – discretionary award to Dustin Mohrhauser, Hartford, S.D. – South Dakota State University
The undergraduates had to demonstrate
commitment through the pursuit of a meat science, food science, animal science,
marketing, business, communications or a related degree, and through activities
and curriculum. They were also asked to name the biggest challenges facing the
beef industry in the next 10 years, and what can be done to meet them.
Paige Wallace, top award winner, drew
upon her family’s cow-calf operation in southwest Missouri in naming drought,
public perception of the beef industry and land availability as the obstacles.
She said science holds the key to overcoming many of those.
The Oklahoma State University (OSU)
junior wrote, “As technology increases and farmers continue to strive for
success, I am confident in beef production sustainability.”
Wallace, an agricultural communications
major, holds broadcasting positions with “The Angus Report” and “Oklahoma
Horizon.” She said her passion for that field will lead her to explore such
career opportunities while raising the show cattle that helped shape her
upbringing.
Texas A&M
senior and $4,000 Colvin Scholarship winner Mollie Lastovica
cited an “information gap” that can only be filled with education. Even as
marketers try to build demand with niche labels, consumers may not understand
differences between “organic,” “natural” or “grass-fed” without industry
efforts. The double major in agricultural journalism and political science
already does her part with professional roles for the Texas Brangus
Association, the International Red Brangus Breeders Association
and her family’s Lastovica Angus Farm.
Malorie
Bankhead sees a connection between faltering consumer trust and beef demand at
a 10-year low, best countered by reaching out to consumers on a personal level.
The California Polytechnic State University senior and $3,000 award winner said
the key is to “continue telling our beef story.” She honed those skills through
the National Beef Ambassador program and a CAB internship.
OSU junior Kassandra
Pfeiffer said education can help consumers see the connection between input
costs and food prices, and that can sustain beef prices at their premium to
other proteins: “A great way to promote our products would be to show videos in
grocery stores of farms, to give the public an idea of where their food comes from.”
The animal science major and former state junior Angus association president
has livestock judging team experience and plans to put her $2,000 Colvin award
toward an advanced degree.
Reagan Kays, a
junior at Kansas State University (KSU) and $1,000 Colvin award winner, said
population growth will increase beef demand so the challenge is just keeping up
with it sustainably. Experiences in Brazil and the Czech Republic led him to a
passion for helping close the productivity gap by sharing “knowledge, innovation
and technologies.” Kays, who wants to try that
through the Peace Corp in South America, co-owns a 55-head purebred Angus herd
with his brother, and currently serves as a legislative assistant in KSU’s
Office of the President.
The Colvin Scholarship Fund began its
graduate awards in 2012, opening doors to anyone in a recognized, full-time
masters or doctorate program related to high-quality beef production.
Bryan Bernhard, second-year PhD student
at OSU who won the $5,000 award, conducted the Beef Checkoff-supported
study entitled, “Skeletal muscle differentially influences marbling development
through IGF-I and myostatin pathways in growing
versus finishing beef cattle.” Results may be applied to strategies that
enhance marbling development, including implant programs.
“The outcome of this research project
will improve our understanding of the interaction between muscle growth and
marbling development in cattle during growing and finishing phases,” Bernhard
said, noting that leads to increased beef quality and consumer demand. He plans
to join a university faculty to work on cattle feeding efficiency, product
quality and safety while educating future animal scientists.
The Colvin Fund selection committee
awarded a $1,000 discretionary scholarship for exceptional leadership and
outstanding scholastic achievement to Dustin Mohrhauser,
a third-year PhD student at South Dakota State University who grew up on an
Angus cow-calf operation.
He directs Midwest student membership
for the American Meat Science Association and holds an International Livestock
Congress Travel Fellowship. Mohrhauser’s primary
research explores the impact of maternal nutrition on calf performance and
grade, and he also works on the leptin genotype
connection to carcass quality and ways to reduce incidence of dark cutting
beef.
As the top scholarship recipients,
Wallace and Bernhard won trips to the 2013 CAB Annual Conference, Sept. 18-20
in Palm Desert, Calif. There they will interact with leaders throughout the
production, packing, retail and foodservice industries.
Launched in 1978 and owned by nearly
30,000 American Angus Association members, CAB is the largest branded beef
program in the world, with 15,000 licensed partners selling 2.2 million pounds
of product daily in more than 45 countries. For producer resources, visit
www.cabpartners.com; or check out the consumer site at
www.certifiedangusbeef.com.
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