EV team brings home top honors in beef marketing competition

WEST DES MOINES — A student team from English Valleys High School, North English, won the high school division of the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation’s “High Steaks!” beef marketing competition. The annual competition educates Iowa students about beef production. Students from across the state participated in the contest this spring in a bid to win judges over with their knowledge of beef products, beef production, and marketing savvy.

The English Valleys team was taught by Kristen Fisch. Students created a marketing plan to sell “Banging Birria Tacos” and featured chuck roast, short ribs and oxtail. Submissions were judged by a panel of industry experts, beef producers and educators. Prizes include up to $200 and first place classrooms will have a BBQ lunch.

The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation (IALF) hosts the annual High Steaks! Beef Marketing Competition in partnership with the Iowa Beef Industry Council. The experiential learning contest allows students to creatively develop a marketing strategy for a beef product of their choice, while learning about the variety of agricultural careers and skills it takes to develop and sell a product.

Students in grades three through 12 were eligible to participate. Students learned about the beef production industry and beef nutrition as a result of participation. As a new component this year, classrooms were invited to several virtual events to learn about beef. Through these video chats, students learned about different areas of cattle such as breeds and genetics as well as cow/calf and feedlot operations.

“This competition provides an opportunity for Iowa’s teachers to bring agriculture into their classrooms, incorporating it into subjects they’re already teaching about like math, social studies, language arts, and science,” said Kelly Foss, executive director of the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation.

A total of 50 entries were received from elementary, middle, and high schools across Iowa. IALF recognizes the following student winners in this cross-curricular program for elementary, middle, and high school students.

Elementary students who participated in the contest selected a beef product and then worked together in teams or as a classroom to submit a poster that advertises the product or showcases the health benefits associated with eating beef.

Middle school and high school students who participated worked together to submit a marketing plan of their selected beef-focused product. Their marketing plans included an introduction, product details, marketing tactics, a market analysis, and nutrition information.

“This is a fun and experiential way teachers can engage their students while also learning about beef production in Iowa,” Foss added.

The High Steaks! Beef Marketing Competition opens annually in January and concludes in April of the same year. Interested teachers can sign up for the IALF quarterly newsletter at www.iowaagliteracy.org or follow the organization on our social media channels to be notified of the next competition. The program is funded in part by the Iowa Beef Checkoff.