CME Beef Industry Scholarship Celebrates 25 Years With 25 Scholarships

For cattlemen and women, investing in the future and ensuring the next generation has the skills and knowledge to lead the industry is of paramount importance. We’re proud to have partnered with the CME Group in this effort for what will be our 25th year through the CME Beef Industry Scholarship.

The CME Beef Industry Scholarship was introduced in 1989 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Live Cattle futures contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The scholarship recognizes and encourages talented students who will one day be industry leaders. This year marks the 25th year for presentation of these scholarships and the 50th anniversary of the Live Cattle futures contract.

In honor of this milestone, the CME Group is awarding 25 scholarships of $1,000 to outstanding students

who are pursuing careers in the beef industry.

The overall scholarship winner, Garret Kays of Weir, Kan., was awarded an all-expense-paid trip to the 2014 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Nashville, where he will be recognized during the Best of Beef Breakfast program.

“This scholarship program is an investment to the future of our industry and its future leaders,” said Scott George, NCBA president. “We are proud to have this lasting partnership with CME Group and to offer $25,000 this year for these students to advance their careers in the beef industry.”

CME Group Managing Director of Agricultural Commodities & Alternative Investments Tim Andriesen expressed the importance of risk management to the beef industry, which was the subject of the applicants’ essays this year. According to Andriesen, the beef scholarship also enables talented young people committed to the beef industry to pursue their careers.

“Over the last 25 years, this scholarship program has enabled us to invest in the next generation of our nation’s food producers,” said Andriesen. “NCBA remains a critical partner in advancing risk management education to future beef industry leaders.”

Each applicant must have demonstrated a commitment to a career in the beef industry through classes, internships or life experiences, as well as have written an essay describing a risk confronting the beef industry with their solution to managing that risk.

The additional 24 scholarship recipients are: