By GRANT SCHULTEMay 5, 2021 GMT
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2021, file photo, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks during a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Ricketts is ramping up his crusade for the meat industry Wednesday, April 5, 2021, by endorsing a new beef passport program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2021, file photo, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks during a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Ricketts is ramping up his crusade for the meat industry Wednesday, April 5, 2021, by endorsing a new beef passport program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
By GRANT SCHULTEMay 5, 2021 GMT
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2021, file photo, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks during a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Ricketts is ramping up his crusade for the meat industry Wednesday, April 5, 2021, by endorsing a new beef passport program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2021, file photo, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks during a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Ricketts is ramping up his crusade for the meat industry Wednesday, April 5, 2021, by endorsing a new beef passport program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
(Getty Images)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts ramped up his crusade for the meat industry on Wednesday by endorsing a new “beef passport” program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado’s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less.
Ricketts, a Republican, cast meat as essential to his state’s economy and the nation’s food security. He criticized “radical environmentalists” and Bill Gates for promoting alternatives, such as synthetic, lab-grown meat, and for arguing that the current global meat production system isn’t sustainable.
“If you do away with the beef industry, it’s going to be devastating to Nebraska,” Ricketts said at a downtown Lincoln steak house, where he issued his annual proclamation of May as “Beef Month.” “It would have a huge impact on our small towns and rural communities.”
BY Nebraska Beef Council | January 11, 2021
June Loseke, a veterinarian and feedyard operator from Columbus, has been elected to the Nebraska Beef Council Board of Directors.
June Loseke, a veterinarian and feedyard operator from Columbus, has been elected to the Nebraska Beef Council Board of Directors in 2021.
Loseke will represent fellow beef producers in the council’s seventh district including Nance, Merrick, Hamilton, Platte, Polk, York, Colfax, Butler, Dodge, Saunders, Washington, Douglas, Sarpy and Cass counties. Loseke will replace outgoing board member Buck Wehrbein from Waterloo who completed two consecutive four-year terms.
“We’re excited to have June joining our board,” said Ann Marie Bosshamer, Executive Director for the Nebraska Beef Council. “She is well respected among producers in her district and will no doubt bring great ideas that will help