When Wisconsin schools struggled to procure USDA commodity beef products during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wisconsin Beef Council stepped in to help the schools continue to meet requirements using beef purchased directly from local farmers and processors. This beef was typically frozen raw cuts and ground beef outside the experience of food service workers in comparison to pre-cooked beef crumbles and hamburger patties. The council’s Beef Resource Guide provided school districts with assistance in determining local beef’s nutritional information for tracking and guideline adherence purposes, staying within monetary limits for procurement transactions, and having productive conversations with local farmers and processors, as well as recipes for using local beef in bulk. Near Madison, the Fort Atkinson, Deerfield, Cambridge, and Mt. Horeb school districts all use local beef. Per the council’s website, “The Wisconsin Beef Council is a producer-directed non-profit organization funded by the $1.00 per head assessment on all cattle sold in the state of Wisconsin per the Federal Beef Promotion and Research Act & Order.”

To learn more about the Wisconsin Beef Council’s Beef Resource Guide, please visit: https://www.beeftips.com/Media/WIBeef2019/Docs/beef-resource-guide-for-web.pdf.