Through a partnership with the Wisconsin Beef Council, more than half a dozen potential buyers came to Wisconsin from Central America to learn more about the beef supply chain. Lucia Ruano led the trade team; she’s a representative for the U.S. Meat Export Federation from the Dominican Republic.
Ruano tells Mid-West Farm Report the point of the trade mission was to introduce buyers to quality beef, and Wisconsin is a key player with its unique dairy cattle sector.
The trade team toured the full spectrum of Wisconsin’s beef industry, visiting family farms, the JBS meat plant in Green Bay, and even businesses like Culver’s and Festival Foods to see how beef moves from farm to plate.
“Something that highlights my attention here is the dairy cattle,” Ruano says. “That is something really new, something that we don’t see in other states. I have learned that quality of this type of breed, it’s very good also and its performance is very high.”
Many of the visiting buyers, she explains, were surprised to learn that dairy cattle can produce high-quality beef, grading Select, Choice, or Prime, comparable to traditional beef breeds.
Ruano said the goal of the visit was to educate importers about the full U.S. beef production process, from how animals are raised and fed to processing and food safety standards. She says when buyers understand the whole process, they will better appreciate why U.S. beef is high quality and safe.
She says USMEF hopes the experience strengthens commercial relationships and increases the consumption of U.S. red meat across Central America.
