U.S. Cattlemen Make Beef Checkoff Reform High Priority
Membership meeting results in specific checkoff policy...

USCA (December 9, 2008) - Members of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) gathered in Las Vegas, NV on December 5 for the group’s annual membership meeting, where attendees passed policy that targets specific reforms in the national mandatory beef checkoff program.

Earlier this year, USCA worked with U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), supporting his introduction of the Beef Checkoff Modernization Act of 2008.

"USCA members want to foster positive changes in the decades-old beef checkoff program and we feel that Senator Tester’s legislation is a step in the right direction," said Jon Wooster, USCA President, San Lucas, California. "Some groups are advocating a doubling of the one dollar per head assessment, but USCA members overwhelmingly agree that they will not support any increase until significant reforms are adopted that streamline the administration of the program and make the process much more transparent and independent of policy-driven organizations."

USCA members passed unanimously the "State Beef Council Fund Allocation" resolution, which requires that all checkoff funds forwarded by qualified state beef councils be sent directly to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) to go through the committee process so that all funds are allocated by the Beef Checkoff Operating Committee. The resolution eliminates the distribution of checkoff funds to the Federation Division of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) but would permit state beef councils to earmark funds for specific programs.

The CBB provides oversight and administration of the national beef checkoff program under the Beef Promotion and Research Act, which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Qualified State Beef Councils are required by law to submit fifty cents of every checkoff dollar collected to the CBB. State beef councils may retain up to fifty cents of every dollar collected for use at the state level or to support national programs. Some qualified state beef councils choose to forward all or a portion of their fifty cents to the Federation Division of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association believes all checkoff collections should be forwarded to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) for administration, and that state beef councils should be allowed to earmark funds to support specific programs if they wish to do so.
USCA members also passed a resolution recommending that the CBB remove the Federation of State Beef Councils from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) structure; and requires the CBB to meet separately from NCBA and all other policy-driven organizations.

The resolution also requires that all NCBA policy representatives be removed from joint checkoff committees and that those committees reflect a structure similar to the CBB’s Operating Committee.

"The fact of the matter is that many producers object to their checkoff funds being linked in any way to policy groups like NCBA," noted Wooster. "A clearer separation between the checkoff and NCBA will lend itself to far greater producer support for the checkoff program. It’s time for both the CBB and USDA to recognize the core problem and help facilitate appropriate solutions."
USCA also has policy supporting the use of a portion of checkoff funds to promote U.S. born, raised and processed beef.

Established in March 2007, USCA is committed to concentrating its efforts in Washington, DC to enhance and expand the cattle industry’s voice on Capitol Hill. USCA has a full-time presence in Washington, giving cattle producers across the country a strong influence on policy development. For more information go to www.uscattlemen.org.