(Radio Iowa) — Cattle producers from across Iowa will be attending today’s (Tuesday) Feedlot Forum in Sioux Center. Beth Doran, the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Beef Specialist for Northwest Iowa, says the event will address some of the many changes being seen within the cattle industry. “We know that consumer trends have changed, both at retail in terms of supermarkets but also in restaurants,” Doran says, “We also know that there’s been trade tariffs and those are still going on and wondering how those are going to effect our ag commodities, and we have record meat supplies.”

The program will include speakers and an industry trade show featuring a range of topics from animal health and nutrition, to buildings, financial services and record keeping. Doran says the keynote speaker is Jessica Dunker, president of the Iowa Restaurant Association. “She has an interesting topic that we need to listen to,” Doran says. “She’ll talk about restaurant and culinary trends and will explain to us how patron palates and tastes are evolving and our menus need to follow suit, so it will effect the kind of beef products we’re going to be marketing.”

Doran says ag economists from I-S-U recently completed a study on the impact of trade tariffs and how they’re affecting Iowa commodities and there will be a discussion on that. The Feedlot Forum is being held at the Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.