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KLA: NCBA Members Adopt Policy To Enhance Beef Checkoff
NCBA members last week approved policy supporting an increase in the $1-per-head beef checkoff program. Members voted on policy during the NCBA Board of Directors and annual membership meetings held at the Cattle industry Convention in Reno.
The checkoff resolution did not identify a specific increase in the rate, but did request Congress ensure the program is adequately funded. According to NCBA Policy Division Chair Bill Donald, the consensus of cattlemen at the convention was that $2.00 per head would “adequately fund the program.”
According to Immediate Past NCBA President John Queen, more than twenty years of inflation have eroded the beef checkoff’s ability to meet all the expectations producers have placed on it over the years. He said increases in beef production have come primarily from higher cattle weights, rather than herd expansion, which is another reason revenues don’t keep up with the industry’s needs.
"We’re producing more beef, but the revenue we need to market it doesn’t keep pace,” said Queen.
Collection and expenditure of the checkoff rest with the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils. Any increase in the $1-per-head rate would require action by Congress to amend the Beef Promotion and Research Act. Therefore, cattlemen directed NCBA to ask Congress to approve a process that will allow producers to vote on enhancements to the beef checkoff program.
Other proposed changes to the program supported by NCBA policy include simplifying the petition process that determines whether a referendum will be held on continuation of the checkoff, establishing a similar petition/referendum process for future increases and eliminating any reference to the charter date in determining whether organizations are eligible to manage checkoff-funded programs.
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