New campaign designed to promote Nebraska ag

Sep 01, 2020

The state ag department will manage ‘Nebraska Straight from the Good Life’

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A new marketing campaign will help Nebraska market its billion-dollar ag sector internationally.

Gov. Pete Ricketts unveiled the “Nebraska Straight from the Good Life” branding campaign during a press conference on Monday.

The program “is designed to help Nebraska companies, those who are headquartered here or have a significant presence here, to be able to help promote what they do, their products (and) their services, to be able to expand that, for example, to the export marketplace,” Gov. Ricketts said.

Having boots on the ground in potential trade markets is a key step to securing trade relationships.

Last year, Nebraska ag reps traveled to Vietnam to meet with potential customers. That meeting led to a Vietnamese delegation coming to Nebraska and committing to buying up to $3 billion of ag products over the next two or three years.

Nebraska beef also makes up 56 percent of all beef going to the European Union.

“When we go places and really develop those relationships, we can expand what we’re doing with those countries,” Gov. Ricketts said.

Ag companies interested in participating in the program can sign up for a spot in the Nebraska Food and Ag Product Export catalog.

At this time, about 30 businesses have committed to the catalog.

There is no cost to participate and no future fees will be collected.

Each company will receive one page in the catalog to feature photos, company history, offered services, contact or other relevant information.

“We really expect this program to be something that serves those companies and, in turn, serves Nebraska and our farmers and ranchers,” Steve Wellman, the state ag director, said during Monday’s press conference.

Farms.com has reached out to members of the Nebraska ag industry for comment.

The first 10 minutes of the press briefing are about the Nebraska Straight from the Good Life program.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.