The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented the eBEEF Team the BIF Ambassador Award on June 23 during its annual meeting and symposium in Des Moines, Iowa. The eBeef Team consists of Dr. Darrh Bullock, University of Kentucky; Dr. Jared Decker, University of Missouri; Dr. Megan Rolf, Kansas State University; Dr. Matt Spangler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dr. Allison Van Eenennaam, University of California-Davis; and Dr. Bob Weaber, Kansas State University. This award is presented annually by BIF to a team or member for his or her efforts in spreading the news of BIF and its principles to a larger audience.
This year’s winners did not take the traditional agricultural journalism path, yet have arguably reached more producers with messages of genetic improvement than perhaps any other effort in the past decade. The eBEEF team is a group of beef geneticist and genomics-focused extension professionals. Their mission is to foster a research and outreach community, engage beef cattle producers and agriculture professionals through trainings and publications, while supporting research and outreach projects.
“The eBEEF team has went above and beyond their state extension responsibilities, to secure United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funding, so that the entire United States and world, via the internet, could have access to high-quality educational resources around beef cattle genetics and genomics,” says Josh White, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s executive director, producer education and sustainability, who presented the award. “A quick look at the eBEEF website and YouTube channel, reveals a library of resources that have been viewed by thousands of users, including many producers, teachers and students.”
More than 400 beef producers, academia and industry representatives attended the organization’s 53rd Annual Research Symposium and Convention in Des Moines, Iowa, and another 250 registered to participate online. BIF’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation.
For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of symposium and an archive of the presentations, visit BIFSymposium.com.