text: Since its launch in March 2009, the MBA has trained nearly 3,000 students and farmers to spread the "positive beef message," offering online lessons on how to combat PETA and organizing a Twitter and Facebook " Food Fight " against its "campus critics." Daren Williams, the communications director for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association , helped start the MBA with $240,000 from the Beef Checkoff program , the beef industry's PR wing. He says the MBA's "focus has really become young people on the big land-grant campuses," from which more than one-fifth of future farmers and industry leaders will emerge. 
   
   "Pollan," Flores tells me over beers at Dupus Boomer's, a campus bar, "is really our enemy right now." More than 35,000 college students were assigned one of his books last year; The Omnivore's Dilemma is one of the most widely read titles on US campuses. Flores and her fellow big beef advocates hope to counter that. "In the future," she says, "we're the ones who are going to tell you about your beef." 
   
   Carrin Flores is a cattle rancher's fantasy come true: An attractive 26-year-old with stylish eyeglasses and glossy lipstick, she's unabashed about her love of cows. "They are so cute. Their cute little tongues. Oh, and their eyelashes," she says. "But I also friggin' love to eat them." She cooks beef four nights a week and can list dozens of ways she likes it: T-bone, tri-tip, boneless rump roast...Flores, a graduate student in veterinary medicine at Washington State University-Pullman , plans to work in the beef industry when she finishes. But she's already a graduate of the Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA), an industry-funded program that trains college students to fight back against critics of big agribusiness, like Michael Pollan . 
   
   "Some of what you are hearing is organic, grassroots debate—they have different opinions about agriculture and beef production—and that's good for a democracy," says Pollan, who teaches journalism at the University of California-Berkeley (where I was his student). Yet he's wary of the interests behind the campaign, noting that a PR firm funded by McDonald's reportedly urged elementary schools not to let Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser speak to kids. 
   
   Asked if the MBA is just a phony PR campaign for Big Ag, Flores is emphatic: "We're not Astroturf. We're just worried about our futures in agriculture." The dozen or so MBA grads and young farmers I spoke to shared similar anxieties. "We know the environment is in crisis and we don't want to contribute to that," says Crystal Young, a recent graduate of Kansas State University, where she received degrees in animal science and journalism. "But we're also farmers, so the hard thing for us is to take into account all the criticisms of conventional agriculture, and to also continue to feed the world on the scale we are doing now. I think a lot of young people are primarily worried they won't be able to have a career in farming at all in the future." 
   
   And therein lies the irony of the MBA: The concerns that have prompted Flores and her peers to get organized are the same ones that have catapulted Pollan to such acclaim. The next generation of farmers realizes that the days of oil-fueled, corn-fed, resource-intensive agriculture are numbered. Beef consumption is the lowest it's been since 1961. Just 8 percent (PDF) of the nation's farmers are under 35. 
   
   "Things are changing—half of my family are vegetarians," Flores says. We've just watched Pollan speak to a gym of 3,500 or so cheering fans and a handful of fuming, pink-cheeked cowboys. "Pollan was really impressive up there," she tells me, finishing her beer. "But I can't escape the fact that, ultimately, his message is that we're unsustainable." ||||| Announcing… 
   
   The Masters of Beef Advocacy 
   
   The American beef industry is proud to produce wholesome, nutritious beef for consumers across the world. Consumers love juicy flavorful steaks and burgers, however many have questions about how beef is produced, from pasture to plate. Tough questions like "is beef raised on factory farms?" and "are cattle pumped full of antibiotics?" are commonly flashed across television and newspaper headlines and social media sites and leave a lasting impression on viewers. 
   
   The average consumer is two generations removed from agriculture and has very little first-hand experience with food production. And they are hungry for information. It's up to us, the beef community, to engage them in conversations and answer their questions about how beef is raised, from pasture to plate. By completing the new and improved checkoff-funded MBA 2.0 courses, beef community members can sharpen their conversation skills and equip themselves with the information and confidence they need to answer tough questions about beef production. 
   
   The new modules will address environmental sustainability, beef nutrition, animal welfare and beef safety while taking users through the beef lifecycle, from pasture to plate. The courses also offer historical context on the evolution of the U.S. beef industry from the time the first cattle were brought to North America to today. 
   
   MBA 2.0 will also be available on DVD form to allow agriculture educators, state beef representatives and other youth leaders to incorporate the modules into their curriculum. 
   
   Earn Your MBA 
   
   The checkoff-funded MBA program is a self-directed online training program designed to equip beef producers and industry allies with the information they need to be everyday advocates for the beef industry. MBA students will be required to complete five courses in beef advocacy, including: 
   
   • The Beef Community 
   
   • Raising Cattle on Grass 
   
   • Life in the Feedyard 
   
   • From Cattle to Beef 
   
   • Beef. It's What's For Dinner 
   
   Enter the Real World 
   
   Once you have completed all five courses you will continue to have access to the five courses on the checkoff-funded MBA Classroom site, as well as the latest talking points, fact sheets and presentations you need to be successful beef advocates. You also will be invited to join the Masters of Beef Advocacy Alumni Facebook group – a virtual community for MBA graduates to share success stories with each other, Through these sites graduates will be encouraged and equipped with tools to reach out to broader audiences in their communities by: 
   
   • Giving presentations – schools, civic organizations, etc. 
   
   • Getting active in the online environment – posting comments/video on Web sites, blogging, etc. 
   
   • Participating in media interviews – print and/or broadcast media 
   
   Enroll Today! 
   
   All beef producers and others in the beef community with a genuine interest in promoting the beef industry are invited to enroll in the new checkoff-funded MBA 2.0 program. You can enroll as part of a group/class or complete the program on your own schedule. THERE IS NO COST TO PARTICIPATE! 
   
   Request a Classroom Kit! 
   
   Have a group or organization that needs to complete the Masters of Beef Advocacy program in a classroom setting? Complete this form to request an MBA Classroom Kit. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   To enroll, fill out an application online. For more information, send an e-mail to have your question answered promptly.
target: – The beef industry realizes it's taken a beating in the public relations department from the likes of Michael Pollan, and it's attempting to lay the groundwork for a comeback. An industry-funded online program called the Masters of Beef Advocacy has trained 3,000 students and farmers in the art of spreading a "positive beef message" since last year, reports Mother Jones. Of late, its focus is on college students at big agriculture schools. "Pollan is really our enemy right now," says a 26-year-old grad student in veterinary medicine who's taken the MBA course and maintains it's not a defacto PR campaign. "We're just worried about our futures in agriculture." Asked for response by MJ, Pollan acknowledged the genuine disagreements on beef production and agriculture that exist, but was wary about the industry's funding of the program. He noted that McDonald's reportedly paid a PR firm to discourage schools from allowing Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser to speak.