Over 130 attendees crowded into the auditorium at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension, and Education Center (ENREEC) in Mead, Neb., on November 7 for a day of panel discussions and speakers at the 2024 Krutsinger Beef Scholars Summit.
The event, planned by beef scholars students in the ASCI 481 “Beef Summit” class in coordination with Nebraska Cattlemen, university faculty, and industry professionals, provides the students the opportunity to interact with producers and stakeholders as industry peers, both present and future.
“At the start of the semester, the class is tasked with doing some fact finding by speaking with people throughout the industry to identify the current issues on everybody’s minds,” said professor Rick Rasby. “They take that feedback, narrow them down to 3-4 topics that maybe share a common theme, and then begin the process of building the event.”
The class then works together to identify a date, build the agenda for the day, contact potential speakers, and market the event.
“I attended previous summit's earlier on in college that gave me an idea of what the expectations were, but the biggest thing I learned putting the summit together was just how much I don't know,” said Josie Ganser, a senior animal science major from Ainsworth, Neb. “The connections I was able to make and strengthen during the process of putting together the Beef Summit has left me with resources to make a lasting difference in the industry. I just want to be a support system through genuine relationships and education for the people behind beef. Putting together the beef summit was very fulfilling in that regard.”
Over 130 people attended the event to listen and interact with speakers on topics such as the market outlook, reproductive management and technology, feedlot pen surface advantages and disadvantages, and the future of design and technology use in the feedlot industry. A panel of producers also discussed the challenges and opportunities in the current cattle cycle.
The Krutsinger Beef Industry Scholars Program is an academic minor that is open to all students on campus with the goal to develop graduates who will be future leaders of the beef industry. This program is actively engages faculty from Animal Science, Agricultural Economics, and Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication (ALEC) and provides students networking opportunities with state and national beef leaders, travel opportunities to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Convention and the Nebraska Cattlemen Convention.
