What would G.E. Dickerson say to BIF today?

Ronnie Green, a former graduate student advised by Gordon Dickerson, said that Dickerson was a man who liked to ask questions that required a lot of thought and that gave him more information. He presented a series of questions Dickerson might have asked the attendees at the 34th Annual Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Conference, had he been there:

1. What is the breeding objective of the beef industry? Is it definable? Is BIF taking an active role in continually refining this definition?
2. For the better part of three decades, BIF has been discussing the multi-disciplinary “systems” approaches to defining genetic changes. Has BIF accelerated the movement of breeding systems to a true “systems” approach?
3. Given that the reproductive rate in beef cows is one of the greatest limiting factors in making further advances in the efficiency of beef production, and, that maintenance energy cost of the cow herd is the resulting economic efficiency “opportunity area,” what role is BIF playing to define economically relevant traits, in standardized form?
4. Who are you working for in your efforts? Always remember that the consumer is the boss. Gordon Dickerson was devoted to making a better product at a cheaper price for the consumer.
5. The concept of hybrid production has yet to be fully utilized by the beef industry. Huge challenges lie ahead in this area. Will BIF be a leader in addressing them, or will it choose to sit by the sidelines?

Green said that if Dickerson had been at this year’s conference, his conclusion would be relatively simple. Dickerson lived by the question, “Have we made a difference today?” And, in the end, that is what defined Gordon Edwin Dickerson.
— by Stephanie Veldman