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Beef checkoff debate rages on

The announcement from USDA that it is now seeking comments on establishing a second beef checkoff has drawn some predictable reactions.

The United States Cattlemen’s Association applauded Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack for his efforts to create “a modern and efficient checkoff program”.

There was a much different reaction, however, from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

“The fact that the Secretary did publish this Notice of Inquiry in the Federal Register actually just adds to our resolve to push back on what he is proposing,” says Colin Woodall, NCBA’s vice president of government affairs. “What he is proposing is a duplicative process which ultimately is going to waste a lot of producers’ dollars. Those are dollars that do not need to be wasted.”

Woodall says the plan would also give the federal government more control of beef checkoff dollars.

“The way it’s set up right now, through the state beef councils and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, you have to be a producer to be a part of that process,” he says. “Under what the Secretary is proposing in the ’96 act, you do not necessarily have to be a producer.

“So you’re taking control way from the beef councils, from the federations, from the producers—and more importantly, just consolidating all of that into government control. And that’s the last thing we want is more control, or intervention, in our business.”

Vilsack has indicated he would drop the plan for a second beef checkoff if NCBA and other stakeholder groups can agree to changes in the current checkoff. But at this point, compromise on those issues does not appear imminent.