The Agriculture Department seeks public comment on all aspects, from the size of the assessment to who will be in charge, of a separate beef checkoff program that it intends to create. “The new order would be in addition to the existing beef checkoff program, providing American beef producers with more resources for the marketing of their products and research to help strengthen the country’s beef industry,” said USDA.
USDA is acting under authority of a 1996 law because informal discussions among a dozen industry groups failed to yield agreement in three years of meetings. Some farm groups say the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association unfairly gets the lion’s share of the checkoff money. The cattle industry wants to double the $1-per-head checkoff.
There is a Dec 10 deadline for comments. “A referendum on an order established under the 1996 Act would be conducted within three years after assessments begin to determine whether beef producers favor the program and if it should continue. A second referendum would be held within seven years of the start of the program,” says USDA. It asks for comments on how to structure the board that would oversee the checkoff, what size the checkoff should be, when it would be levied and whether decisions should be coordinated with the current checkoff program.