The Beef Industry Long Range Plan (LRP) task force shared its new five-year plan at the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego on July 8. The mission of the LRP is to ensure the U.S. beef industry provides sustainable, high-quality beef that meets consumer demands worldwide.
“Since late 2024, our task force has taken a hard look at what’s working in the beef industry and where we need to improve,” says Joe Lowe, LRP task force member and eighth-generation seedstock producer at Oak Hollow Angus in Smiths Grove, Ky. “The result is a five-year plan that offers flexibility and local adaptation while keeping us all moving toward shared goals. By focusing on results and smart investments, we can keep the U.S. beef industry strong and competitive.”
Lowe admits right now things are good in the beef industry, and it is hard to ask what we can improve. But he refers to his role as a seedstock producer.
“If I’m selling my customers the same bulls five years from now that I am today, they’re going to say, ‘What have you done the last five years?’,” he says. “There’s always room for improvement.”
The Plan
The LRP is a tool designed to help the beef industry establish a common set of objectives and priorities. It communicates the industry’s strategic direction and provides insight on how the industry can serve its stakeholders by growing beef demand.
Since 1995, industry leaders representing key beef industry segments — cow-calf, seedstock, dairy, feeder, animal health, livestock auctions and more — have gathered to develop an aligned, comprehensive plan with the goal of increasing consumer demand for beef. These leaders are brought together to study and compile major areas of opportunity facing beef over the next five years.
Lowe says the key to the new LRP is the fact the six goals are interconnected and represent what the industry wants to achieve:
- Policy & Supply Chain Viability. The U.S. beef industry has a viable supply chain with the freedom to operate.
- Sustainable Industry Outcomes. The U.S. beef industry produces environmentally sound, economically viable and socially acceptable products.
- Public Engagement & Building Confidence. The public trusts and demands high-quality, safe and nutrient-dense U.S. beef.
- Innovation, Science, Research & Continuous Improvement. The U.S. beef industry continues to innovate and improve, making the industry resilient, credible and successful in the long term.
- Stakeholder Engagement. U.S. beef industry stakeholders align on production systems across segments to meet common consumer demands.
- Animal Health & Food Safety. U.S. cattle and the beef supply are healthy and safe.
“All six goals work together, so progress toward one goal helps move others forward,” Lowe explains. “For example, strong advocacy can lead to more research and innovation, which supports sustainability and builds trust. And by working together on animal health and other issues, we’re better prepared for challenges like disease outbreaks or changing consumer demands.”
He explains each goal is paired with a strategic initiative — a broad approach to achieving it — and a success definition. The goals are supported by actionable initiatives, organized to drive alignment and accountability across all segments of the beef supply chain.
He encouraged producers to visit the LPR website, BeefLongRangePlan.com, for a more in-depth breakdown of the goals.
“On the website you can find the goals, the objectives of the target, and some potential tactics to achieve the targets,” he summarizes. “This by no means is saying this is what we expect you to do, it’s just a mere example.”
Industry Implementation
The plan’s implementation relies on individual organizations and businesses identifying their strengths and contributing to the broader industry goals. Lowe encourages stakeholders to focus on their areas of expertise and collaborate with others to drive industry-wide progress.
The LRP task force encourages other beef industry businesses and organizations to use the plan as input for their own strategic decision-making processes.
For example, the Beef Checkoff, its committees and contracting organizations, use pieces of the LRP as its guidebook. All funding decisions and focus areas of Checkoff projects and programs, by design, must follow the key areas outlined in the plan. Checkoff contractors take this direction and develop Checkoff-funded programs that fall within the scope of the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order and support the plan’s priorities.
Lowe points out all goals may not fit all organizations or businesses. He encourages individuals to consider which goals fit their organization or business and be an expert in those goals.
“This Long-Range Plan reflects the best of what our industry can do when we come together with a shared purpose,” Lowe says. “It’s built to be flexible, rooted in common-sense priorities and designed to help the industry stay strong no matter what challenges come our way. I’m proud of what we put together, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it can continue moving the beef industry forward in the years ahead.”
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