Cattle U speaker to highlight beef purchasing trends surrounding COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has done more than just cancel graduations, trigger a run on grocery stores and cause the deaths over 500,000 people worldwide; it has also turned the beef industry upside down. Danette Amstein, managing principal of Midan Marketing, a full-service meat-centered marketing firm based in Mooresville, North Carolina, will speak at the High Plains Journal sponsored Cattle U July 29 to 30 in Dodge City, Kansas, regarding the meat industry and the effects of COVID-19.

Amstein grew up on a row crop, feedlot and cow-calf operation outside of Jetmore, Kansas. She graduated from Kansas State University with an animal science degree with a focus in communications. Amstein credits her agricultural upbringing with her strong and determined work ethic.

“I am a product of the 80s farm crisis, so we all had to work really hard together to make things happen,” she said. “It was a time when I was watching neighbors lose their farms and it instilled in me a work ethic that I probably wouldn’t have gotten any other way.”

Additionally, Amstein said 4-H and FFA shaped her life and career. They were critically important to helping her to develop to who she is today and the people skills she possesses.

Amstein is coming up on her 16th year at Midan Marketing. Her area of focus is primarily on strategy with clients.

“I’m looking at how we can set up a strategic plan in order to move their business forward,” Amstein said. “However, my mojo is really in branding. That’s what I really enjoy doing.”

In addition, Amstein said about one-third of the Midan Marketing team is made up of people who grew up on farms and have meat science backgrounds. She said their passion from that aspect really carries through for the organization.

One of Midan Marketing’s specialties is the intersection between understanding the meat consumer and the industry in order to create the best results for clients, Amstein said.

“That conduit of talking to consumers and figuring out how to take what the consumer is wanting and needing all the way back to the farmers and ranchers, that’s where we shine,” she said.

Her experience at Midan Marketing gives Amstein access to data from the monthly surveys the company collects, which she will use in her presentation at Cattle U. She will use this information to explain meat purchasing trending leading up to, during and to predict what the beef industry will look like post-pandemic.

“I hope ranchers, farmers and producers will walk away with at least one major take-away from that presentation that will put them in a better position to get more money for their live animals,” Amstein said.

For more information about Cattle U and Trade Show visit www.cattleu.net.

Lacey Newlin can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].