DENVER, Colo. — Beef industry officials will spend the next few months educating members of Congress about proposed changes to the Beef Checkoff program. The proposal includes an increase of $1 – to $2 – in the per head assessment each time a beef or dairy animal is sold.
Eight organizations participated in a working group created in 2011 to offer suggestions on enhancing the program. All but one of them signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month regarding the proposed changes. Some of the revisions require congressional approval.
"Our very best-case scenario is that legislation may get done in late 2015 or early 2016," said R. Scott Stuart, president and CEO of the National Livestock Producers Assoc. (NLPA). "We don’t want to do it terribly fast because we have work to do first. There’s a large education process that will be needed so (legislators) understand what the checkoff is and why it’s important. It’s going to be a challenge, but this group is enthusiastic and is committed to continue to work together during the process."
The seven organizations that signed the memorandum March 13 are the American Farm Bureau Federation, American National CattleWomen Inc., the Livestock Marketing Assoc., the Meat Import Council of America, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA), the NLPA and the National Milk Producers Federation.
The United States Cattlemen’s Assoc. (USCA) opted not to sign.
If congressional approval is granted, the proposal calls for a referendum within a year that would ask beef and dairy producers if they support the assessment increase. If the increased assessment is approved, those producers wanting to do so would have the opportunity to request a refund of the additional money, but not the original $1 per head.
"I think there’s support out there for (such an increase)," Stuart said. "Obviously there will be some pushback. No one wants to pay more. Everybody (in the working group) has a different paradigm they’re looking at this issue from."
Under the proposal, checkoff payers may request a referendum every five years to vote on whether to keep the program or if the assessment should be changed.
The proposal also changes how members are chosen for the Beef Promotion Operating Committee through the creation of a group charged with nominating people for the committee.
About $80 million is collected annually from the checkoff, said Jon Wooster, past president of the USCA. Approximately a quarter of the money comes from the dairy industry.
USCA officials decided not to sign the memorandum because they wanted to see greater changes than the agreement provides, Wooster said. For example, the organization had wanted to see revisions in how the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board (CBB) is required to handle contracts. They also hoped the agreement would call for a separation of the NCBA and the Federation of State Beef Councils, which merged in the 1990s.
"We wanted to see policy organizations have less input into the checkoff," he explained. "We think it should be independent. This (agreement) puts policy groups in the decision-making process."
Despite the USCA’s decision not to sign the memorandum, the organization is still a part of the working group, Wooster said. "While they pursue what they have in the memorandum of understanding, we’re going to pursue the things we’re interested in," he noted.
The checkoff was a part of the 1985 Beef Promotion and Research Act. Fifty cents of each dollar collected through the checkoff stays in the state in which it is collected and the rest goes to the CBB.
"The focus of the checkoff is on promotion and research," Stuart explained. "We try to hone in on what works best to get the biggest bang for our buck."
Information provided through checkoff funding allows consumers to have the facts about where their beef products come from, he stated. Money is also provided for promotion of both the export market for U.S. products and the domestic market, he added.
The proposal to modify the current program is separate from an attempt last year by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to create a second checkoff. The idea was not popular among many in the beef industry and the secretary withdrew his plans after funding wasn’t included in the 2015 spending bill passed by Congress in December.
