Jaclyn Wilson is a recipient of a 2024 Nuffield Scholarship, supported by a Coalition of USA Investors. Jaclyn will investigate cattle husbandry techniques, and how implementing educational programs can improve the beef industry in the USA.
Jaclyn, with her father Blaine, are owners of Wilson Flying Diamond Ranch, a 135-year-old commercial cow/calf operation in Nebraska with 700 head of Red Angus/Simmental cows. In 2019, 'Flying Diamond Beef' was founded, where they market ranch beef directly to consumers. The ranch was the Inaugural Leopold Conservation winner for Nebraska, was the first in the world to sell feedlot cattle as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT's) in 2021.
In 2023 they received the National Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Cow/Calf producer of the year, a program which helps rebuild beef demand by providing guidelines that producers can incorporate into their business to increase consumer demand, and Jaclyn would like to develop this further.
"I believe there is a need for this type of a program in other countries, including basic knowledge of cattle handling, cattle welfare, along with advocacy and operation safety standards can assist to increase market share, market value, and consumer confidence. Is there a need to further develop an international cattle husbandry educational program, and what could that look like?"
Jaclyn will visit the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Argentina, as well as lesser-known beef countries such as the Caribbean and Africa to see how producer education can make beef products more marketable.
