Online shopping

from the Beef Checkoff Program

While the number of people shopping online for groceries was already growing, the COVID pandemic launched e-commerce popularity into hyperdrive. When COVID brought the world to a screeching halt, 67 percent of consumers ordered groceries online. And even though people are getting back to more normal routines with work, school and play, the ease and convenience of buying groceries online has kept 63 percent of consumers continuing with online shopping habits, with nearly half saying they will continue to use pick-up/delivery for groceries in the future.

The good news for beef is that consumers are becoming more comfortable shopping for fresh beef online as well. More than 40 percent of consumers purchase fresh beef when ordering groceries online, which is up 18 percent compared to May 2020. Consumers are also happy with their online beef purchases, with 82 percent of consumers satisfied with the Ground Beef they received.

Based on these changing buying behaviors, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor of the Beef Checkoff, is focusing on e-commerce as a way to connect with consumers where they are shopping and encouraging them to add beef to their carts. NCBA has developed several successful Beef Checkoff-funded programs promoting beef to online shoppers.

In November and December 2021, NCBA partnered with Sam’s Club to promote beef and the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. brand during the holidays on the retailer’s digital properties. Holiday beef digital ads were placed on the Sam’s Club website and app directing consumers to a page where they could add beef to their shopping cart.

Almost 40,000 consumers interacted with the ads, and those ads drove more than $8 million in beef sales with 8.6 percent new buyers to the beef category. The return on ad spend for the campaign was $41.72, which means that for every Checkoff dollar spent on the project, nearly $42 was returned in beef sales. In addition, the effort was supported by 14 state beef council partners which helped increase the overall reach and impressions and also brought additional beef sales to individual states.

Promoting beef through online shopping platforms also complements other promotional efforts. For example, when the Federation of State Beef Councils, on behalf of the Beef Checkoff, partnered with Daytona International Speedway to sponsor the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. In February 2022, promoting beef to consumers at home reached a broader audience and extended the positive beef message beyond NASCAR fans. Funding provided by 13 state beef councils made an e-commerce campaign with Kroger possible, which drove the beef message home for families while they were shopping for groceries online.

The Kroger Beef 300 promotion in January and February generated more than 5 million impressions and resulted in $982,000 in beef sales. With 45 percent of purchasing households new or lapsed beef shoppers, the effort also inspired those who haven’t purchased beef online to put beef in their online baskets.

Efforts encouraging consumers to buy beef online go beyond the retail level by targeting foodservice as well. A recent partnership with McDonald’s and Door Dash yielded big results for beef.

During the first week of November 2021, McDonald’s promoted two beef offers on the DoorDash delivery platform and utilized the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. logo, which paired well with the famous golden arches in this national campaign. Ads featuring the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. logo appeared on mobile app and website versions of the DoorDash homepage and McDonald’s store page. McDonald’s also promoted the offer heavily through social media channels such as Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.

from the University of California Cooperative Extension

The 2021 drought directly cost the California agriculture sector about $1.1 billion and nearly 8,750 full- and part-time jobs, according to estimates in a new analysis led by UC Merced researchers.

Once the effects on other economic sectors are considered, total impacts are estimated at $1.7 billion and 14,634 full- and part-time jobs lost.

The Economic Impacts of the 2021 Drought on California Agriculture Preliminary Report, released Feb. 24, analyzes the impacts of last year’s drought in the Central Valley, the Russian River Basin and northern intermountain valley areas. The researchers developed these preliminary estimates of economic impacts using surveys, reviews of hydrological information and remote sensing data gathered from those areas and comparing them to average conditions, as well as to the 2012-2016 drought.

The report identifies at least an additional 395,000 acres of idled land — roughly 385,000 acres in the Central Valley alone with respect to pre-drought conditions due to drought-related water cutbacks.

Several regions in the Sacramento Valley, the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, Tulare County and Kern County were the most affected. Other drought-affected areas include the Russian River Basin and intermountain agricultural areas in Siskiyou, Shasta and Modoc counties. The crops most significantly affected by increased fallowing include rice in the Sacramento Valley, cotton in the San Joaquin Valley, and grain and field crops statewide.

“In comparison with the 2012-2016 drought, conditions were much worse for the Sacramento Valley and the Russian River Basin, yet the statewide impacts have not been as severe as in 2015 — the deepest point in the last drought,” said School of Engineering Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara, lead author of the report. “Should dry conditions persist throughout 2022, a higher tier of adaptation measures may come into play to reduce economic impacts on agriculture and communities that host thousands of households relying on agriculture for a living.”

The report also highlights strong commodity prices that have helped mitigate some economic costs of the 2021 drought. Milk prices rose because of global demand, raising revenues and offsetting some of the droughtrelated effects of higher production costs. The dairy sector also explored alternatives to hay and winter grains that, in some cases, increased cow milk productivity. The beef cattle sector also had to adapt to scarce winter pastures and higher forage prices, but the state’s beef cow herd increased, as did its share of the national cow herd, leading to potential revenue gains.

While Californians are familiar with drought, the 2020-21 water years were the second driest two years on record. Although precipitation deficits were widespread, drought conditions were more severe in the Sacramento Valley and the North Coast regions. A lack of atmospheric rivers and a below-average snowpack depleted most reservoirs and aquifers in 2021, the report states.

“This has been a fast-paced drought and it shows how climate change increases the challenges we face