That is the topic for tonight's #agchat on Twitter.  It was suggested by Young Producers' Council (@YPCBeef) yesterday and I am really excited about the topic.  If you are new to Twitter (or new to #agchat for that matter), I suggest logging into TweetChat or Twubs and putting #agchat into the hashtag query.  The discussion will take place from 8-10pm ET.  

See you there!  I will be tweeting from @CariRincker and @NYAgriWomen.

As I said in this blog, I am the Public Relations Chair for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association ("NCBA") Young Producers' Council ("YPC").  Last month we had a conference call with folks interested in being on the committee.  I wanted to update those of you who were not able to make the call but are interested in digging in and getting your hands dirty.

The YPC Public Relations Task Force will be divided into nine (yes, NINE) different subcommittees:

1.  Local Media Subcommittee:  I am particularly excited about this subcommittee for 2010.  Lead by Chair Travis Reid (Pennslyvania), this subcommittee will manage YPC media contacts throughout the country and help put young producers in contact with their local radio stations, newspapers, television news stations and magazines.  YPC media contacts are strongly encouraged to participate in the Masters of Beef Advocacy ("MBA") program.  I am an alum of the MBA program and I wrote a blog on my experience here.    

2.  National Media Subcommittee:  Lead by Holly Foster (California) and RaeMarie Gordon (Colorado), this subcommittee will focus media energies towards national media.  Not only will this subcommittee draft press releases but it will identify YPC members with superior communication skills and/or expertise for articles and interviews.   

3.  Media and Policy Training Subcommitte:  This is an exciting new subcommitte for the PR Task Force.  This Committee will help encourage YPC members to complete the MBA program.  Additionally, this subcommittee will work with NCBA to prepare an additional level of policy training for YPC members. More...

If you have been following this blog then you know that I have been YPC's Public Relations Chair since last July.  Thank you to those of you who re-elected me to this position.  Part of the vision of the Public Relations Task Force was to start this blog.  I am fortunate to have Katy Groseta as the new Editor of this blog so I can focus on other efforts with the Public Relations Task Force.  Please let me know if you interested in joining YPC's PR Team -- I am compiling a list of people and I hope to have a conference call sometime in March.

My vision for the Public Relations Task Force is to focus on getting YPC members out to their local media -- newspapers, magazines, radio shows, news stations -- and help provide ample media and policy training to YPC members so they feel comfortable doing so.  I would also like the Committee to focus energies on other types of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Would love to have you on board if you are interested.  Please email me at cari.rincker@gmail.com or call me at 217/254.4997.  If you are interested in being a blogger for Cattle Call, please email Katy at katygroseta@gmail.com.

In order for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to continue our efforts to provide the best education opportunities possible for our members and better prepare current and future volunteer leaders for the beef industry, we are asking for your input through an online questionnaire.

This survey will help determine the leadership education needs of those involved in the cattle industry and provide valuable information to NCBA and the beef industry.

The questionnaire will only take approximately 15 minutes and will be available until February 7th. Your answers are anonymous and confidential. You can click this link or use this web address to access the survey:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/NCBA

Thank you in advance for your time and participation. Your response is important to our industry and greatly appreciated!

Crystal Mathews
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida

Last night, YPC met and appointed fresh slate of people for its leadership team.  Ben Spitzer from Fairmount, Georgia was appointed to the Chair YPC while Ben Neal from Nashville, Tennessee was appointed to Vice-Chair.  YPC added a Secretary/Treasurer position this year and Sharon Breiner of Manhattan, Kansas will be joining YPC's executive leadership in that position.  YPC also appointed the following voting members on NCBA's policy committees:

1.  Evan Tate from Kentucky - Agriculture Policy;

2.  Brandon Carlson from California - Cattle Health & Well Being;

3.  Sarah Baker from Idaho - Federal Lands;

4.  Travis Hoffman from Colorado - Live Cattle Marketing Committee;

5.  RaeMarie Gordon from Colorado - Membership Committee;

6.  Holly Foster from California - Property Rights and Environmental Management;

7.  Wyatt Prescott from Arizona - Tax and Credit Committee;

8.  Tonya Amen from Wisconcin - Resolutions Committee.

Furthermore, YPC elected chairs of its own committees/task forces.  I will remain as the Chair of the Public Relations Committee -- please let me know if you would like to get involved in any way.  My goal for 2010 is to train YPC members around the country to be media contacts with local newspapers, magazines, and radio shows and continue to push with social media through this blog, Facebook, and Twitter.  Katy Groseta from Arizona will be leading the Cattle Call Blog effort so I am looking forward to passing the reins to Katy for a fresh perspective on this blog.  Finally, Anna Aja from Arizona will be leading YPC's membership task force.

Last year's YPC Chair, Dustin Dean from Texas, will remain in an advisory capacity for YPC as a Past-Chair.

Sadly, I was unable to make it to NCBA convention this year due to a last-minute work responsibility.  However, I have been following the tweets from #NCBA10 on Tweetdeck.  If you are there at convention, keep the tweets coming!  And if you weren't able to make it (like me), sign into Twitter and search for #NCBA10 for a real-time feed on what is happening at the Convention and Trade Show today.

As I noted in this blog, several YPC members will be Tweeting from NCBA convention.  The official "hashtag" on Twitter is #NCBA10 (i.e., just search for NCBA10 on Twitter to follow all the tweets with this hashtag).  Be sure to follow the following folks on Twitter who will be tweeting from convention:

@BeefUSA -NCBA itself

@NCBAC2C - NCBA Cattlemen to Cattlemen

@NateJaeger - NCBA Field Representative and NCBA Staff Advisor to YPC

@AndyVance - Radio personality, Shorthorn cattle producer from Ohio, and YPC Cattle Call Blogger

@ABNRadio - Ohio's Voice For Agriculture

@ShorthornToday - American Shorthorn Association

@cgoodcomm - Chelsea is a 1L in law school, a Kansas cattle girl, and a YPC Cattle Call Blogger

@KatlinMulvaney - YPC Cattle Call Blogger

@TroyHadrick - South Dakota catle producer, Advocates for Agriculture

@iTweetMeat - Chris Raines is a meat professor at Pennslyvania State

@SimpleAsDirt - Nevada Cattlemen's Exec

@AllenLivingston - Agvocate, Tx Aggie, Beef Cattle Specialist

@Willi568 - Jennifer Williams Zwaggerman is an agriculture attorney in Des Moines, Iowa

@CrystalDMathews - PhD Candidate from the University of Florida

@TXBeefLeaderofT - Mandy Jo

@DebbieLB - Debbie Lyons is a Kansas Angus producer

And of course, I will be tweeting from both @CariRincker and @RinckerLaw on Thursday afternoon and Friday.

DON'T MISS THE #NCBA10 TWEETUP!  Wednesday (today) 6:30 p.m. at the NCBA Tradeshow Reception at the Chuckwagon Cafe.

You can also become a Facebook fan of the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show.