Beef 2024 campaign kicks off at the Brekky Creek Hotel

Around 150 industry leaders and associates gathered at the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane on Wednesday night to celebrate the countdown to the major event, which will run from the 5^th to the 11^th of May next year in Queensland's beef capital of Rockhampton.

It was mentioned at the event that the federal government had committed $6 million of funding for Beef 2024 in the recent budget.

Beef Australia CEO Simon Irwin let the crowd know of a few new inclusions that will be a part of the festivities, including Meat Street, a large range of food outlets to encourage people to come back to the event each night, reminiscent of Expo 88, which is still etched in the minds of many Queenslanders.

"That is the feeling we want to have in our community, we want people to take ownership of that absolute festival," Mr Irwin said.

"We really are trying to make this one big celebration for all people in the beef community."

Another new feature of the cattle show will be Beef TV, a livestream of the six rings of beef cattle judging, as well as professionally hosted studio segments, with the aim of reaching 10,000 people both in person and online.

Mr Irwin also mentioned the committee's hopes of encouraging the next generation of beef enthusiasts through their revamped schools program, with a focus on students in the older grades looking to follow career pathways into the industry.

He said there would be curriculum specific programs for primary aged students, with an ag studies based approach for those in years seven to nine.

"We think there is a real lack of understanding in many parts of Australia about where meat comes from, people have disconnected from the animal to the meat," he said.

"We need to reinforce the message that you don't need a Barcoo poley and a set of dinner hobbles to get a job in ag anymore, you need a degree in genetics, to be in avionics, in finance, in science or in marketing.

"That's where ag is and we want to demonstrate that to the people who are making their career decisions in the Central Queensland region."

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