Working Ranch Magazine Summer 2025

STATE-BY-STATE A WR visit with your local cattle organizations...

THE RUNDOWN North Carolina Cattlemen’s Beef Council n Founded in 1986 n Milo Lewis, Executive Director n www.ncbeef.org

FEATURING: North Carolina Cattlemen’s Beef Council INTERVIEW WITH ASHLEY HERRING, DIRECTOR OF CONSUMER INFORMATION

BY KACY ATKINSON

WR: What is one of the biggest challenges an SBC faces?

farm sources of beef are at an all time high for us, which is exciting because it’s a way to genuinely connect peo ple to their food and get them right to the source to ask their questions and feel comfortable about what they are buying. When we have a chance to connect someone directly to the farm and create opportunities for our farmers to share what they are doing, it helps move us in a positive direc tion. We are about to have a lot more mouths to feed here in NC, which is a challenge we are up for, and of course we want to see them choosing our product. AH: Each year our land grant uni versity hosts ‘Farm Animal Days’ in the spring on their farm. It’s largely attended, and all the commodity groups come together to participate because it’s such a powerful oppor tunity to reach young consumers and their families. We get to have the time to have real conversations with them, address fears and concerns, talk them through what we do, and so we are able to truly move the needle in ways we can’t with other types of programs WR: What is one of your favorite memories?

people they interact with on social media, friends, family outside of agri culture — which helps us spread our message further and more effectively. When you are working with so few dollars, you need all the grassroots support you can get.

AH: Being able to reach outside our producer audience is definitely a challenge for us. While it is import ant we keep our producers, the peo ple funding us, apprised of how we are spending their dollars and engaging them in what we are doing, our real target audience is the public who is unfamiliar with what we are doing. And figuring out how to reach them effectively is always a challenge. We are lucky that we have an army of pro ducers here in NC that help pass our campaigns and programs along to the

WR: What’s an opportunity ahead for NCCBC that excites you?

AH: Like many, we are experiencing record population growth here in NC. While it creates challenges, it’s also a huge opportunity for us to connect with new consumers in a positive way. Requests to be connected directly to

Young Beef Producers Tour which supported 35 young producers on a Midwest tour of the Oklahoma Stockyards, Kansas feedyards, and more. 86 I SUMMER 2025 WORKING RANCH audited readers run 21 million head of beef cattle.