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R-CALF sues Vilsack over state beef council promotions

The cattlemen’s group R-CALF USA filed suit Monday against U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to stop what the group says is checkoff promotion of beef whether it’s U.S.-produced or imported.  R-CALF is going after the half of the $1-per-head checkoff spent by state beef councils in the states where the money’s collected.  R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard tells Brownfield the checkoff amounts to a federal tax, half of which goes to fund private state beef councils that promote beef generically, whether imported or domestic.

“R-CALF members want to promote USA beef because we want consumers to seek it out,” Bullard told Brownfield Ag News Monday, “but that’s contrary to the messages of the state beef councils, like the Montana Beef Council that we are focusing on.”

Bullard says many R-CALF members support a checkoff, but one that pays for promoting beef specifically produced by U.S. cattlemen.

“If we can start from scratch and build a checkoff program that would allow our U.S. producers that are paying into the program to have their product promoted and researched and advertised,” said Bullard, “there may be a completely different view of the checkoff program.”

The suit is being filed today in the U.S. District Court in Montana and specifically mentions that R-CALF members are compelled to finance the private speech of the Montana Beef Council.

“Our checkoff dollars should not be used to pay for speech that promotes products of our competitors,” he said, “and that’s our underlying problem with the way the program is currently being administered.”

AUDIO: Bill Bullard (10 min. MP3)