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| Beef Checkoff serves as model for other mandatory programs |
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This is in reply to the March 4 letter from Stewart E. Kopp (Farm World reader disputes column about beef checkoff, page 3). In reading Mr. Kopp’s letter, it appears that he has confused the Beef Checkoff with his stated support for R-Calf USA’s different approaches to issues affecting the beef industry today and the member organization of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA).
During its 23-year history, the Beef Checkoff has served as a model for mandatory commodity assessments and is viewed by many others in agriculture as the standard by which to measure success.
While the accomplishments of the Beef Checkoff are far too many to enumerate in the space allowed here, it is important to note that approximately 70 percent of all cattle producers support the program. They support it because with the help of Beef Checkoff dollars, convenient and nutritious heat-and-eat beef entrees, unheard of just a few years ago, can be found in 71 percent of this nation’s supermarkets today.
Checkoff dollars also helped more than 105,000 teachers and 3 million schoolchildren learn about beef nutrition, food safety and the positive way cattle producers take care of the natural resources in their stewardship.
Checkoff dollars last year meant that 64 million women who make the primary food purchasing decisions in their homes received accurate messages about beef nutrition and convenience at least 23 times.
Keep in mind this is a short list of industry activities that contribute to the nation’s understanding of the beef industry and the value of beef products. These are activities that no individual producer or state organization can accomplish as effectively as producers banding together through the Checkoff.
Though there are many points of policy contention between R-Calf USA and the NCBA, the Checkoff serves as the one point of common ground between the two cattlemen’s groups that both advocate and support.
“We all need to work together to produce a safe product, and that is one area where the Checkoff has done a great job of bringing all the segments of the industry together,” stated Leo McDonnell, one of the founders of R-Calf USA.
Finally, and most important, the shame of all this is a simple fact most of us first learned in the Good Book: A house divided against itself cannot stand.
The number of beef producers continues to dwindle in this nation.
We can’t afford to throw stones at one another when there are so many battles being waged against our collective house, everything from environmental and animal welfare activists to capricious global economics that add volatility to the market.
Instead, the Beef Checkoff serves as a glowing example of what can be accomplished when a group of people with mutual interests works together in the name of mutual benefit.
Joe Moore
Indiana Beef Cattle Assoc.
Indiana Beef Council |
| 3/18/2009 |
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