Marissa Davis – U.S. Meat Export Federation – Denver

June Update

Talk about a whirlwind! So far working at USMEF has been a great experience. My first week entailed going to their Board of Directors meeting which was held in Kansas City. It is a weeklong meeting that consists of different executive committee meetings, pork and beef committee meetings, general sessions, and two different caucus meetings. I attended three different general sessions, a new members breakfast, the Feed Grains and Oilseeds Caucus, and the US Pork & Allied Industries Committee. At these general sessions I got to hear updates from the international offices, conversations between USMEF members and committee chairs, and different speakers such as Kip Tom, Daniel Whitely, and Randy Blach. This was my first time ever traveling for anything work related, and on top of it, I had never formerly met with anyone from USMEF. I met with the USMEF Director of Industry Relations at Denver International Airport, Annie Hennen. She was my first in-person introduction to USMEF, and I hung out with her for all three days I attended BOD. Meeting at the airport I’m sure she was surprised to find an underdressed me, who had no idea what she was in for! That’s the first lesson I also learned, when traveling for business, if you have something the same day, dress in your business clothes.

I started in the office on May 28th and started working on little projects to start off my time here. I have also started to consistently work on my big project for the summer, which I am excited to be part of. My day-to-day is coming into the office between 8:30-9 a.m., then I work on various tasks, do research and other work for my summer project, and help different staff members with little projects or things they need done. I also get to sit in different meetings, such as a meeting with the Industry Relations Team that happens weekly. Last Friday the President of USMEF, Dan Halstrom, invited me to sit in on a meeting between him and a Japanese business. Seeing how the USMEF maintains relationships with current and potential members is interesting, and something that is critical to the company and industry. Sometimes I am also able to meet with the different departments in the Denver office, such as marketing, to learn what their role is within the company. I tend to wrap up my day around 4 p.m., finish off whatever I am doing then and make sure I am not needed for anything else.

Working with the International Relations Team in Denver has been a blast! I am looking forward to the rest of my summer with them, and to learning more about how U.S. meat is exported all around the world. The USMEF holds many different tradeshows and has teams all around the world promoting U.S. meat, and it is exciting to see how it is done!

July Update

I can’t believe I only have four more weeks of my internship here at USMEF. This summer has flown by so fast! This opportunity has opened my eyes to the meat export industry and its impact on U.S. agriculture. In the past 8 weeks, I have been able to learn how U.S. red meat is marketed and sold in over 80+ countries through the USMEF international offices. Teams of people work tirelessly to market U.S. meat in other countries and develop how the consumer can use a specific cut of meat. It is amazing to see how popular U.S. red meat is, and how they prepare different cuts American consumers don’t typically purchase.

These past few weeks I have been working heavily on my main project for this summer, the 2024 Global Processing Seminar. Putting together this seminar has definitely been a learning experience for me! I never realized how many moving parts there are when putting together experiences such as this. Thankfully I have had the guidance of some amazing people here at USMEF, who have steered me in the right direction and given me advice on this project!

The Global Processing Seminar is a program sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association and held at UNL’s Loeffel Meat Laboratory. Different meat importers from Central and South America are coming to Lincoln to learn about meat processing techniques. Meat science professor Dr. Gary Sullivan works to put together an agenda for two days about meat processing, catered towards the different markets. Then the importers will be taken on different industry tours for a day to meat processors and grocery stores. Typically, importers from different countries like to see what American grocery stores look like, how meat is packaged, and how the butcher counters are set up compared to their countries. U.S. meat processing facilities also have different regulations from other countries, so we try to set up tours to show them how U.S. meat processing facilities run.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit with Rural Radio host Susan Littlefield and talk about my experience with USMEF. Being interviewed has never been my strong suit, so to say I was nervous is a bit of an understatement. Everything went smoothly though, and it didn’t turn out half as bad as I thought it would! I am looking forward to heading back to Lincoln to help run the 2024 Global Processing Seminar, but sad my internship experience is coming to a close so soon. Cheers to four more weeks!