Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 12/19/14


Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is dropping his proposed second beef checkoff, a plan he announced in October that was seen as a move to put pressure on squabbling beef industry players who have failed to agree on how to improve the current checkoff program.

"The beef industry agrees that more resources are needed for research and promotion, but for the last several years the industry was unable to agree how best to do that. The proposal for a second checkoff program was designed to help the industry achieve its goal. However, as the appropriations bill Congress passed last week directed the Department not to implement a second beef checkoff program, USDA will no longer pursue that solution. USDA encourages the beef industry to work together to determine ways to secure more resources for the beef checkoff program so that it can continue to support cattle ranchers around the country," said a USDA spokesperson in a statement emailed to Meatingplace.

In the 2015 omnibus appropriations bill passed last weekend, Congress specifically noted that funds would not be approved for the purpose of creating a second beef checkoff.

In an interview with DTN/The Progressive Farmer, Vilsack said he won’t pursue a new checkoff and quipped he was happy the beef industry could at least find an area of agreement.

Beef industry groups including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, in October had quickly cried foul over the prospect of a second program.

Beef industry leaders agree that the current fee of $1 per-head-of-cattle per producer unchanged since 1985 is insufficient, but have been so far unable to reach consensus on how to reform the program, which prompted Vilsack’s intervention.

“We greatly appreciate Secretary Vilsack’s action, allowing the industry stakeholders to continue working together to enhance the Beef Checkoff Program," NCBA President Bob McCan said in a statement emailed to Meatingplace. "All of us involved in this process have been very mindful of the tremendous producer support of the Checkoff, and we will continue to work with the Beef Checkoff Enhancement Working Group and our members to enhance the program while building on that support.”

One voice of dissention has been the National Farmers Union, which has argued the current program fails to separate checkoff-funded research and market development from organizations that advocate and lobby for policy positions.

“Ranchers dislike that their checkoff dollars are being controlled by a lobbying organization that is fighting against the very policies many of these ranchers support,” NFU President Roger Johnson said in a statement issued last week.

Most of the current checkoff budget is administered by the NCBA.

Earlier this year, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) agreed to step up its oversight of beef board funds in the wake of a report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) suggesting closer oversight although complaints that the beef board and NCBA had allegedly misused beef checkoff funds and the beef checkoff logo were not substantiated in the OIG report.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.