No matter how you feel about the beef checkoff, you must give the South Dakota Beef Industry Council (SDBIC) credit for its creativity.

SDBIC is having a “Beef Throwdown” during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally next week to promote beef.

A throwdown is a fight or competition, something that fits the rally’s rowdy, motorcycle club image. During the rally, Food Network chef Justin Warner will judge signature beef dishes from restaurants around the Black Hills. The winning restaurant will receive a trophy as well as a team slot in the Sanford International Senior PGA Pro-Am event taking place Sept. 18-19 in Sioux Falls

Rally riders will have an opportunity to take the Beef Throwdown Tour. They will start when they check in at the Sturgis headquarters, where they will be given a Sturgis Beef Throwdown Passport that contains information about and maps to all the participating restaurants. Passports may also be downloaded at sdbeef.org.

Riders will then travel to participating restaurants and purchase the signature beef dish. The restaurant will stamp the passports, and participants who turn their passports in will have the chance to win five prize packages that include $100 to $500 in Beef Bucks.

Participating restaurants include Red Rock, Wall; Alpine Inn, Hill City; FLYT and T-Grille, Deadwood; Baker's Bakery & Café, Custer; Country Side Grill, Sliders Bar and Grille and Vertex Sky Bar, Rapid City; and Loud American and Knuckle, Sturgis.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may be a prime opportunity to showcase beef. More than a half million people from all around the world are expected to attend. SDBIC has been involved in the rally for years. Beef is even the official meat of the 2019 event.

"We really wanted to expand our footprint with the rally this year,” says Suzy Geppert, SDBIC executive director. "We know that one of the main draws for rally attendees is the beauty of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and many of them spend a lot of time on their bikes touring. We wanted to be able to allow attendees the ability to incorporate beef into their experience, so we established an opportunity to do just that."

Eight organizations make up the SDBIC: South Dakota Beef Breeds Council, South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, South Dakota Cattlemen's Auxiliary, South Dakota CattleWomen, South Dakota Farm Bureau, South Dakota Farmers Union, South Dakota Livestock Auction Market Association and South Dakota Stockgrowers Association.

In case you are wondering, USDA forecasts per capita beef consumption in the U.S. to average 57.7 pounds in 2019, up from 53.8 pounds in 2015, which was the lowest since 1960. The highest was 94.1 pounds of beef per person in 1976.

Does promoting beef Sturgis Motorcycle Rally affect consumption in the long run? That’s one of the big questions some people have about the effectiveness of the $1 per head beef checkoff.