Cattlemen, corn farmers put face on ag in South Korea

A delegation of corn and beef producers from Iowa and Nebraska wrapped up its Asian trade mission with a series of events in South Korea over the weekend. The mission was organized by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

Like in Japan, the group had several meetings with retailers, distributors, cold storage operators and packer representatives. They also observed and participated in a retail beef sampling promotion at an E-Mart outlet in Bundang, a southern suburb of Seoul.

The delegation capped off its Korean itinerary at a large outdoor barbecue held by USMEF at E-Mart’s Wolgye outlet.

The event provided a great opportunity for U.S. farmers to put a face with their product and to interact directly with Korean consumers - promoting the safety and quality of U.S. beef. The barbecue, along with a similar promotion held the following day, attracted more than 7,000 customers and produced a significant jump in the store’s sales of U.S. chilled chuck eye roll, USMEF said in a news release.

The Nebraska Corn Board’s Alan Tiemann (right), a farmer from Sewerd, is shown in this photo serving up some great U.S. steak at the event with Iowa cattleman Kevin Carstensen. (Click for a larger image.)

"This trade mission been a great opportunity for Nebraska and Iowa corn and beef producers to work together to capitalize on one of our best assets – the high-quality, grain-fed beef that we export from the United States," said David Hamilton, a farmer from Thedford who represented the Nebraska Beef Council.

The neighboring markets of Japan and Korea both hold great potential for U.S. beef exports, and at one time they were the No. 1 and No. 3 beef export markets respectively.

"From a consumer acceptance and demand standpoint, I think the atmosphere in Japan is quite favorable if we can just get our governments to work together and give us better access," Hamilton said, referencing the 20-month cattle age limit on U.S. beef exported to Japan.

"But we have a totally different set of challenges in Korea," he said. "Here we have an ample supply, but the greatest challenge I see in Korea is the lack of consumer acceptance. There are still many misperceptions among Korean consumers that U.S. beef is not safe."

"Their impression is that we export different beef than we feed to our own families, which is obviously not the case," he said.