The Georgia Beef Board is pleased to welcome Wyatt Doolittle as the new Checkoff Program Coordinator, bringing fresh energy and a strong background in cattle production, finance, and agriculture marketing to the role. We spoke with Wyatt to learn more about his background and what he’s looking forward to as he begins his work with Georgia’s cattle producers and consumers.
“So, I grew up in Union County, North Carolina on a stocker-backgrounder operation and my family has strong ties to stockyards and livestock markets and marketing cattle across the southeast. From there, I kind of forged my own path and started showing livestock and then eventually made my way into the seed stock industry and I found myself in Georgia as a graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College with a degree in Ag Business. From there, I worked in finance for a couple of years and now I’m here with the Georgia Beef Board.”
In his new role with the Georgia Beef Checkoff Program, Doolittle is focused on ensuring compliance, accuracy, and strong connections between producers and consumers.
“So, one of the main roles of the Beef Checkoff Coordinator is collections and compliance, so making sure that all of the checkoff dollars from Georgia cattle are accounted for and then if any out-of-state cattle are being sold, making sure that those dollars make their way back to their respective states, as well as sending that 50 cents off to the national programs. And from there, you know, states here in the southeast, specifically Georgia with high population densities, we really benefit from that 50 cent that goes to nationals, especially coming from those big cattle states because that allows for really big promotional events to happen within our state.”
As part of his vision, Wyatt emphasizes his role as a liaison in the Georgia cattle industry.
“I’m really looking forward to working on both the producer-facing side as well as the consumer-facing side and kind of bridging that gap between the two. I really do view myself as a liaison between producers and consumers and I’m looking forward to seeing what new innovative ideas producers have and the way they would like to see their checkoff dollars utilized.”
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.