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Ronald F.
Eustice was born September 24, 1945 at Waseca, Minnesota. He is the son of
Donald F. Eustice and Alice Mae Perron. He currently serves as
Executive Director of the Minnesota Beef Council. Since 1990, his
contributions to agriculture and food production are many, but there
is one about which he is especially passionate. In 1997, a series of
ground beef recalls, cases of foodborne illness and subsequent
lawsuits presented major challenges to the beef industry. Under his
direction, the Minnesota Beef Council began a highly coordinated
educational effort to improve the safety of ground beef. The
Minnesota Department of Health under the direction of Dr. Michael
Osterholm, encouraged the directors and staff of the Minnesota Beef
Council to study irradiation and determine if the technology could
do for ground beef what pasteurization had done for milk a fifty
years earlier. It soon became obvious that irradiation was the most
effective technology available to protect public health and
eliminate the scourge of E. coli O157:H7. The Minnesota Beef
Council conducted dozens of educational conferences and served more
than one million samples of irradiated ground beef as consumer
interest, understanding and public support for this food safety
technology grew. By the year 2000, highly respected companies such
as Schwan’s and Omaha Steaks began to irradiate all their raw ground
beef. Eustice has been invited by governments and agencies,
including the United Nations, to be the keynote speaker at seminars,
university classes and other educational activities about
irradiation of meats and produce in more than 30 states, 3 Canadian
provinces, Argentina, Brazil, India, Spain, Peru, Thailand and
Uruguay. |
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A turning point
in Ron’s life was his selection in 1966, to be an International 4-H
Youth Exchange (IFYE) delegate to Uruguay where he lived with
families on farms and ranches in various parts of that country.
Since then, Eustice has traveled to more than 80 countries on behalf
of American agriculture including two years living in Mexico and
three years in Indonesia. His career accomplishments include 40
years of domestic and international marketing activities with major
corporations, cooperatives and associations including Meredith
Corporation, Carnation Company, American Breeder’s Service,
Minnesota Holstein Assoc, Land O’ Lakes and the Minnesota Beef
Council. Eustice has trained thousands of veterinarians, farmers,
ranchers and food industry professionals throughout the world in
food safety, quality assurance, genetic programs and artificial
insemination. Most recently Eustice’s educational efforts have been
concentrated in the area of food safety and technology introduction.
Besides English, Eustice is fluent in Spanish, German, and
Indonesian, and speaks three other languages.
Ron Eustice grew
up in Steele County on a farm near Waseca. He was involved in 4-H
and FFA in high school and in 1962 was a member of the state
champion FFA Dairy Judging Team. He continued his judging success
in college, and was a member of a national champion intercollegiate
dairy judging team (1965) and placed 8th individually at the 1966
national contest. He also judged on the U of M’s General Livestock
Team. In college, he was a member of the Delta Theta Sigma
Fraternity and served as chairman of Minnesota Royal. He graduated
in 1968 from the University of Minnesota with a degree in
Agricultural Journalism and later completed a Masters of
International Business Degree from Century University
Ron received the
Minnesota Honorary Future Farmer (FFA) Degree-1999, Distinguished
Service Award, Minnesota Foundation for Responsible Animal
Care-2000, Honorary American Farmer Degree from National FFA-2001,
MN Dept of Ag Excellence in Food Safety Award-2002 and Southern MN
Ag Ambassador of the Year Award-2004.
Ronald and his
wife of 33 years, Margaret McAndrews live in Savage. They are the
parents of Kevin, (married to Alison Walker) who recently completed
a Ph.D. degree at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in
computer engineering, John, a graduate in Horticulture of University
of Minnesota who does plant development and writes professionally,
and AnnMarie who graduated in 2007 from the University of Minnesota
with a degree in Interior Design employed by Target Corp. |
