The Florida Beef Council provides education through their Ranch to Ribeye Tour and we caught up with Deanne Maples with the Florida Beef Council to learn more.
“It’s one of the most impactful programs of the year. This is a two-day, boots-on-the-ground type experience where we bring in the people who influence what ends up on your plate. And that’s dieticians and chefs, retailers, food service leaders, educators, and we take them straight to the source. They step onto a working Florida ranch, they see firsthand how cattle are raised and cared for, and then we move into the meat science side at the University of Florida, where they learn from our experts on how we take an animal and it becomes the cuts you see in the meat case. So, it’s really a true pasture-to-plate experience,” said Maples.
“But what’s the most powerful in this process, I think, is transparency. These are professionals who make recommendations to thousands of consumers every day, and many of them have never been on a ranch before. So, when they come out, they see the level of care, they ask the burning questions they have and we answer them authentically, they look at our sustainability practices, and most importantly, the attention to animal welfare, which is always the number one concern our consumers have. It really changes perspectives and they walk away with a real practical knowledge that they can put into practice immediately with their customers,” said Maples.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.