By Abigail Richards

The annual National Retail Beef Backer awards recently announced their top picks for this year's honors at the Cattle Industry Annual Convention & NCBA Trade Show in Nashville. Four farms and retailers took home the biggest honors, which recognizes grocery establishments that are doing well in the marketing and merchandising of beef.

"The majority of beef sales in the United States depend on the commitment and dedication of supermarkets of all sizes," said Margie Hande, cow-calf operator in Amidon, North Dakota, and chair of the checkoff's Retail Committee. "For the fifth year we are able to say thank you to retailers that are blazing new trails in the meat case and making beef more accessible to their consumers both through checkoff-funded programs and their own innovative marketing and merchandising efforts."

The winners of these year's recognition awards includes Broulim's Fresh Food with the Independent Retailer award. This is the second time in a row that the store has received the honor. The Mid-size Retailer Award went to Haggen, which has 28 stores. Harris Teeter with 206 stores and Safey with 1,694 stores took Large Chain Retailer and Innovator of the Year, respectively.