Leland Red

“Up until this report, released in September, the team spent 500 hours between our team, the board, members, the Foreign Agricultural Service and others working on this initiative,” she explained, noting there were individual interviews, surveys and information gathered.

She noted the strategic plan is a living document, which will be revisited every quarter.

Additionally, the consultant continues to work with the WUSATA team to section the plan in quarterly priorities, which keeps the organization on track for accomplishing its goals.

“My focus is on rebuilding and repairing the WUSATA Foundation and culture,” Markley said. “Our next steps will be in working with our program partners to strength those relationships.”

Vision

Aligning with a longstanding mission and core values, WUSATA has developed a concrete plan for achieving its goals through its new strategic plan.

“In our first quarter, we are making our core values of trust, service, integrity, excellence and accountability more visible,” Markley explained. “Our vision for 2023 is making sure Western agribusinesses thrive in world markets.”

To meet this vision, WUSATA will leverage its networks to build the American Dream for Western agribusinesses by expanding their sales beyond U.S. borders.

Additionally, WUSATA strives to ensure U.S. food and ag products are showcased around the world –both in restaurants and on grocery store shelves.

The end result of these efforts will lead toward a bigger goal – more profitable small businesses in the Western U.S.

“Profits for small business owners increase through export sales,” Markley said. “Jobs are created in production, manufacturing and transportation to support international growth.”

She added, “No longer do international customers have to visit the Western U.S. to have a taste of the West.”

Growing partnerships

In looking to expand customers for its program areas, WUSATA is focused on small to medium agribusinesses in the Western states and U.S. Pacific territories. In 2023, Markley noted immediate wins can be seen by assessing partners in each program area – export readiness, global connection and FundMatch.

“We think about export readiness as companies that are ready to bridge the gap. They’re ready to export,” she said. “They are a small company, distributing locally and interested in expanding globally. What resources can we use to help them learn about exporting globally?”

The Export Readiness Program provides access to market intelligence and consumer insights through a variety of platforms and helps partners learn to facilitate their international marketing efforts.

The Global Connect

Program targets larger companies with existing systems for exports and are looking to begin exporting to key markets by helping companies discover new markets and connect with international buyers.

The FundMatch Program is for larger companies who are already exporting and have a plan but are seeking the 50 percent matching funds to help them reach their goals. The program helps current exporters to compete by providing financial support for marketing and promotional activities.

Markley noted WUSATA is already competitive as a result of its existing network of export resources, territory partners, market exports and more.

Additionally, funding reliability through the Market Access Program and a “guided experience” will program customersʼ structure, systems and processes to provide higher service for customers throughout their interactions with WUSATA.

“Service is a huge piece of our strategy going forward,” Markley said. “Our proven process is to help companies find out what their needs are, and we are guiding them through the process on their journey towards international growth.”

Saige Zespy is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@ wylr.net.

Since the inception of the Beef Checkoff program, domestic beef cattle operations have declined from about 930,000 in 1990 to 730,000 by 2020. The domestic cow herd has dwindled exponentially, from 87 million mother cows in 1988 to 31 million mother cows in 2020.

Some say the Beef Checkoff is working as intended. This would mean it was intended to drive the domestic cattle producer out of business. It’s clear the checkoff should be

The latest threat to our industry is the environmentalist religion coupled with globalism. This twoheaded monster is embodied in the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, which is a nonprofit movement started by the World

They have promulgated an ever-increasing suffocating set of rules which will destroy the independent family livestock producer. Their mechanism is to put a financing chokehold on the supply chain under Environmental, Social and Corporate Gov-

The Securities and Exchange Commission passed rules last fall to set things in motion. Experts in the financial world, like Forbes, agree this is truly dangerous to the domestic producer. Can you say Holland? One should look up the members on their website.

Wanton violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act by the Big Four has broken the cattle cycle and the cattle market.

As for the issue of fake meat, it is not a threat to our industry. It is simply substandard competition which can be countered with continued production of excellent beef products.

Beef is a true plant-based product produced naturally without “funky” biochemistry.

Dr. Taylor Haynes is the fourth generation in production agriculture since the Emancipation Proclamation. He and his wife Beth raise “true” grassfed, all-natural beef in the mountains of southeastern Wyoming and northern Colorado. Haynes has rejoined the Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming Board of Directors and is currently president of the Board of The Organization for Competitive Markets. He has served on the board of directors of R-CALF USA and as president of the Laramie County Stockgrowers and the Pole Mountain Cattlemen.

USDA continued from page A1 agencies or authorities, nonprofit entities serving rural areas, federally-recognized Tribes, nonprofit cooperatives and public institutions of higher education.

In addition, she noted applicants may be located in a non-rural area, but the project must be located in a rural area.

Applicants must have sufficient financial strength and expertise in activities proposed in the application to ensure accomplishment of the described activities and objectives, within their scope of work.

All applicants must register for “Financial Assistance Awards Only” at sam.gov and maintain registration throughout the grant period. Registration on the webpage is free.

Barber shared funds are not available for duplicate current services or substitute previously pro- vided, pay costs of preparing the application package for funding under RBDG or any other program, pay costs for any expenses incurred prior to receipt of a full application, fund political activities, fund agricultural production and finance comprehensive area-wide type planning.

Available funding and projects used

According to USDA RD, there is no maximum grant amount. However, smaller requests are given higher priority. In addition, there is no cost sharing requirement.

There are two types of RBDG projects – opportunity grants and enterprise grants.

Opportunity-type grants are limited to up to 10 percent of the total RBDG funding, and enterprise-type grants must be used on projects to ben-