Missouri Beef Industry Council

Beef Producers Urged to Vote for Representatives

Columbia, MO (AgNewsWire) Missouri cattle producers are encouraged to make sure they are registered to vote in elections this summer for representatives to serve on the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC) board of directors.

MBIC Director of Marketing Dawn Thurnau says the elections are held in different regions of the state each year.

"This year we are filing positions in three of the regions – northeast, northwest and southeast,” she said. “So if you are in any of those regions it is important to register to vote."

For a beef producer to be able to vote, they must be registered by July 18 at their local Farm Service Agency office, but producers who have voted in the last three elections do not need to register again.

"Any cattle producer within the regions where we are electing directors who owns one or more head of cattle is eligible to vote," Thurnau said.

Voting in the elections is important for producers to have a voice in how their beef checkoff dollars are spent on the state level.

"Fifty cents of every dollar that’s collected in the state of Missouri stays right here in the state of Missouri,” said Thurnau. “There are 13 cattle producers on the board of directors, representatives from the Livestock Marketing Association, the Missouri Association of Meat Processors and the dairy association and they are truly the ones that make the decisions."

Those producers who have been nominated by the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Farm Bureau and MFA to serve on the board of directors are as follows:

Region 2 - Northeast
David “Blue” Geier
Sally Angel

Region 3 - Southeast
Jim Freeman
Mike Kasten

Region 4 – Southwest
Jay Stahl
Howard Hardeke
Chris Cloud

Thurnau notes that other qualified producers may be nominated to be added to the ballot in their particular region before July 18. Biographies and pictures of all the candidates will be featured in trade publications prior to the election in August.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture will mail ballots to registered producers by August 15, 2007. Ballots must be postmarked no later than August 29, 2007 to be valid.