The Beef Quality Assurance program continues to grow significantly, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. NCBA reports there are now more than 100,000 cattle producers certified through the BQA online learning system. The online option was introduced by NCBA, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, in early 2017. Since the BQA program was initiated in the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of producers and transporters have become BQA-certified through in-person and online training, with an estimated 85 percent of the U.S. fed beef supply now touched by BQA-certified operations. The program is a nationally coordinated and state implemented plan. The BQA program provides systematic information to U.S. beef producers and beef consumers of how commonsense husbandry techniques can be coupled with accepted scientific knowledge to raise cattle under optimum management and environmental conditions. Veterinarian Bob Smith, chair of the BQA Advisory Board, says the growth demonstrates that producers and transporters “continue to embrace this tool for optimizing quality in their operations.”