Ed. Note: As part of the 25th anniversary of the CME Beef Industry scholarship, we’re interviewing past winners of the award. The 2014 scholarships were awarded at the NCBA Cattle Convention Feb. 6.
The U.S. beef industry has had its share of challenges over the last few years. Drought across the U.S. has resulted in higher feed costs and the lowest herd populations in decades. The domestic demand for beef has trended downward and it is not yet clear what the new farm bill will mean for beef producers.
But there is reason for optimism. Growing conditions are expected to improve this year, grain prices have fallen substantially and cattle prices are expected to remain strong. And importantly, interest in the cattle industry remains high among many of America’s high achieving college students.
At the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in Nashville, CME Group awarded its 25th round of beef industry scholarships to 25 students pursuing careers in the beef industry. A quarter century of scholarships has resulted in more than a few success stories among those who have received the award.
One of those is 1998 recipient Kelli Ludlum, a Kansas State University alum who won the award following her junior year of college. Since 2004, she has worked as a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau, where she focuses on livestock policy, food safety and commodity futures. Ludlum took some time to talk with us about her role at Farm Bureau, what the scholarship meant to her career, and the importance of similar awards to the beef industry.
What role did the beef industry scholarship play in setting your career path?
It was one of the more unique scholarships I received. I was blessed to receive a lot of scholarship support through college, and I graduated without student loan debt. So the financial part was obviously huge. The unique thing about the CME scholarship was the essay. My essay was on marketing through alliances. That was a fairly new thing in the late 90s – this notion of going all the way back to the genetics of the animal to create a more consistent consumer appealing product in the meat case.
Choosing that as my topic and doing the research on that and meeting the people that I talked to for the essay was helpful in making me think strategically about the industry not just in 1998, but as it turns out, what would help the industry over a much longer term.
Kelli Ludlum (c) American Farm Bureau
What is the importance of a scholarship like this to the industry?
Any scholarship support is useful because it allows college students to spend their university years taking full advantage of their experience – doing things outside the classroom that enhance their leadership and communication skills.
That investment in young people helps you have such better, more well-rounded professionals coming into the industry. That’s a real value for the industry to have those types of people coming out of four-year universities. So many opinions about agriculture and about food generally and how it’s produced are topics of discussion on college campuses, so having people who have the ability to speak at student groups or write letters to the editor on agricultural issues is important. Those are things where we need young people who have the time and ability to do that. And you can’t do that if you’re working 40 hours a week trying to pay for school. So it’s a real investment in bringing quality young people into the industry.
Top winners are also flown to the NCBA convention. What was that experience like?
The component of having an expense-paid trip to convention was great. It wasn’t my first trip there. My parents are NCBA members. But it was my first trip where people wanted to meet me, and I had the opportunity as a college student to interact with industry leaders, and think about jobs and careers. The Cattle Industry Convention is a great source of relationships, so to be in that environment as a junior in college was a great opportunity. Not just to put my name in front of industry leaders, but also soaking up their wisdom and input as well.
Did you know what you wanted to do when you received the award?
I just knew I wanted to do something in the livestock world, and be connected to people.
I had a traditional rural, agricultural upbringing. My parents still farm in southeast Kansas, and we raised cattle and we raised row crops – sort of your typical Kansas commodities – and I was always more interested in the livestock side of things. I had a typical path for a farm kid. I was in 4-H and FFA, and judged livestock. I was immersed in the animal science world, which is why I selected that major when I went to Kansas State. Staying in animal science gave me the flexibility to do lots of different things. And at the end of the day, my passion is still about the people that produce animal protein for the world, so it ended up being a pretty good fit.
What’s a day like for you lobbying for the Farm Bureau?
The issues I work on are focused on three buckets. The two big ones are livestock issues – animal health and animal welfare. And I also have our food safety responsibilities which are meat and poultry as well as fresh produce for our specialty crop growers. Typically a smaller portion of my time is dedicated to our policy on commodity futures marketing. In terms of day to day stuff, it’s meetings with folks in the industry, both with natural partners like ag groups, as well as non-traditional partners like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As part of those coalitions and on our own, we communicate frequently with policy makers, primarily staff. There are times where we’ll meet with members of Congress, but on a daily basis we’re communicating with their staff or with staff at USDA or FDA. It’s that constant networking and relationship building that we have to have.
Did you ever see yourself going to D.C. to work in beef industry advocacy?
Not too long after I received the scholarship, I started to think more seriously about advocacy and doing that as a career. I had a dual internship in Topeka, Kan. the summer after receiving the scholarship. I spent half my time at a state government agency, and half my time at the Kansas Livestock Association. I think that’s what got me thinking about doing something like this as a career.
I didn’t think I would be in D.C. I thought if I was involved in government and policy, it would be at the state level. It just worked out that the opportunity I had to do that came in D.C., so almost 14 years later, I’m still here.
via:http://openmarkets.cmegroup.com/7645/an-investment-in-the-beef-industry-qa-with-kelli-ludlum-of-american-farm-bureau
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