The Idaho Beef Summit will feature speakers, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations focusing on beef end product quality. Producers will have the opportunity to learn the “meat” side of the beef industry, according to UI Extension Educator Sarah Baker.

Beef producers will hear from leading industry personnel on understanding and improving beef carcass quality through DNA-based technology, nutrition, and marketing.  Leading retailers and chefs will discuss retail and foodservice trends and showcase how consumer preferences affect the bottom lines of beef producers.

Attendees will view cutting demos and tour processing facilities to learn about carcass grading, processing, and value added marketing for market and cull beef.  The Summit will offer “Meat Science Basics for Ranchers” and updates from industry, check-off, and BQA leaders.

The Summit is intended to benefit Idaho’s beef industry by helping producers continually improve the quality and consistency of their product, making it as competitive as possible with other protein sources available to consumers.  “It validates for them that they aren’t just producing calves, they are producing beef,” Baker says.

University of Idaho animal and meat science faculty and UI Extension faculty, along with other beef industry professionals will conduct the course beginning on the evening of January 5 and concluding at noon at January 7 at the Canyon Springs, Red Lion Hotel in Twin Falls, Idaho. Registration is $50 per person.

For more information, or to register, please contact the University of Idaho Extension Office in Custer County at 879-2344 or your local Extension office.