A Meeting of the Minds: Less Shock Over Videos
I had the privilege to speak with a group of ranchers, producers and feeders last week in Pendleton, Oregon about a subject that’s at the top of my priority list for the meat industry. The topic: developing effective messaging to counter the rhetoric and the criticism of animal activists, and empowering the folks who are the very heart and soul of the industry to be the faces and the voices who deliver that messaging.
Other than having to detour a hundred miles or so around a still-active forest fire that’s been raging through the Columbia River Gorge — to the point that Interstate 84 was shut down, and remains closed — the event was a wonderful opportunity to meet and mingle with men and women responsible for the Western beef industry.
And since the meeting took place during the week of the famous Pendleton Round-up rodeo — and if attending the Western- and Native-themed extravaganza ain’t on your bucket list, it oughta be — you won’t find more boots and jeans and Stetsons walking the streets of any other town in America.
I was probably the only guy in the entire saloon hall where the meeting was held who wasn’t outfitted in the above-referenced gear, but I’ve never pretended to be anything other than a reporter and commentator who observes and documents the hard work and the struggles that come with the profession of animal husbandry.
Hopefully, I get to share a few bright ideas with industry folks at such meetings, but more importantly, I get to listen and learn about the challenges endemic to the business of raising the protein America enjoys 365 days of the year.
I’d like to share a couple insights from conversations I had at that event: One’s encouraging, if it’s accurate, and one is sobering, though not an insurmountable problem.
First, some good news.
Media, or Public Apathy? Or Both?
I spoke with Ryan, a producer in the Sacramento Valley area of California, and he offered an interesting take. In recounting the release locally of yet another of those undercover videos activists have been adept at filming, he noted that at first, there was the usual media frenzy about the (alleged) “horrors” of the images captured at an area lamb plant.
But then, he said that after a brief couple of days, the coverage simply disappeared.
“I don’t think too many people care about this stuff as much as they used to,” Ryan said. “It’s like they seen it so many times before, it’s no longer so shocking. [The video] just didn’t have a very big impact.”
Could it be that at least some of the mainstream public are getting tired of these so-called exposés? Could activist “fatigue” be setting in with consumers?
Ryan offered the thought that with the violence and gore that’s available 24-7 on cable TV, the so-called animal abuse displayed on these video clips looks pretty tame by comparison.
That might be a factor. As a society, we might be getting desensitized to violence, and that would certainly affect how these “shocking” videos are perceived.
Or maybe people are slowly realizing that the purpose of releasing such footage isn’t to drive reform, but to drive producer and packers out of business, and that’s a notion that doesn’t have much traction, even in California.
Recruitment & Retention Blues
But another discussion involved a chronic problem that does feel as if it’s widespread. and that’s the questionable work ethic of the younger generation(s). In a conversation with Ralph, a feedlot supervisor in Washington, he talked about the realities of recruiting, hiring and retaining people to do the work required to keep the operation running.
“I’ve had dozens of people who get hired, show up for their first day, and then after only a couple hours, they walk off the job and quit.” He said. “Sometimes, I feel lucky if I can find someone who makes it through the entire day before they quit.”
Even at a salary well above the prevailing entry-level wages in the area, he said it’s a never-ending struggle to find people willing to work at his feedlot. It’s not that the working conditions are so onerous; it’s that the new employees just don’t want to handle any serious workload.
Ralph attributed the trend to parents who do everything for their kids, who make sure they don’t have to work hard growing up, and who encourage their kids’ fantasies about becoming wealthy video game entrepreneurs, or super rich rock stars, or millionaire professional athletes, as if those are realistic goals for the vast majority of young people.
He might be right. Kids who don’t have to work while growing up generally don’t suddenly acquire a taste for manual labor when they depart from dear old Mom and Dad.
Whatever the cause or causes, I have to agree that the issue of finding and keeping a reliable work force isn’t a comment on the beef industry, it’s a reflection of the social values to which we all contribute.
That there’s some serious food for thought.
Editor’s Note: The opinions in this commentary are those of Dan Murphy, a veteran journalist and commentator.
