Every three years sees a reorganization of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. This time around, domestic producers are slated to get two more representatives.
On the penultimate day of 2019, the USDA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to readjust the regional representation of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which oversees the collection of the $1-per-head Beef Checkoff Program. The proposal would increase the size of the board by two as a result of shifting domestic cattle inventories over the past few years. These two additional representatives would come from the ranks of domestic producers, growing the ranks from 92 to 94. Importer representation, at seven, would remain unchanged.
“The proposed rule imposes no new burden on the industry, as it only adjusts representation on the board to reflect changes in domestic cattle inventory, as well as in cattle and beef imports,” read the proposal.
“The adjustments are required by the [Beef Promotion and Research Order] and would result in an increase in board membership from 99 to 101.”
The Beef Promotion and Research Order, the law that established the Beef Checkoff Program, requires that the beef board’s representation be readjusted every two to three years according to changes in domestic cattle numbers and/or distributions and the live animal equivalents of imported beef. The last time this happened was July 2017.
The cattle counts, or live animal equivalents for importers, are based on the inventory or import average of the past three years.
On the domestic side, each state gets one board representative for 500,000 head or more of cattle (beef and dairy), plus one additional representative for each additional million head of cattle after that. If a state does not have at least 500,000 head of cattle, that state and other low-population states in the area are grouped together into geographic units and apportioned representatives in the same manner.
Previously, the “Southeast Unit”—comprising Alabama and Georgia—had three representatives. Under the proposal, the Southeast Unit would be dissolved, and each state would get their own single representative. Similarly, three states—Nebraska, Texas, and Wisconsin—would each get an additional representative.
“The proposed producer representation is based on an average of the inventory of cattle in the various states on Jan. 1 in 2017, 2018, and 2019 as reported by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service,” the proposal explained.
“The board reapportionment as proposed by this rulemaking would take effect, if adopted, with the secretary’s appointments to fill positions early in the year 2021.”
Importer representation
Beef importers are also covered by the Beef Promotion and Research Order to pay into the Beef Checkoff Program and are represented on the beef board. Instead of being represented based on cattle head count, they are represented under the same rules but by live animal equivalents of imported beef. For representation purposes, 592 pounds of imported beef is equivalent to one animal.
Importers currently have seven representatives on the beef board. The proposed representation adjustment would not change that number.
R-CALF USA and its CEO Bill Bullard raised concerns about the influence of importer representation on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. In a Jan. 2 response to the proposed rule, the group noted that with seven voting representatives, only the state of Texas has more representation with 13 representatives. Nebraska also has seven representatives.
Bullard answered WLJ’s clarification questions about the group’s concern, noting that—with seven representatives—importer representatives could out-vote any individual state other than Texas or Nebraska. The R-CALF response to the position called this “dominant control” over the board.
However, each representative gets only one vote on issues, and there will be 94 domestic producer representatives on the board if this proposed rule passes compared to the seven importer representatives.
The number of importer representatives on the board has changed slightly over the past 20 years. Past reapportion changes made to the importer representation, according to the USDA, are as follows:
• 2017—seven representatives;
• 2014—six representatives;
• 2011—seven representatives;
• 2008—nine representatives;
• 2005—eight representatives;
• 2002—eight representatives;
• 1999—seven representatives.
Comments open
This proposed rule is open for public comment through Feb. 28. Comments can be submitted online at regulations.gov under the search term “AMS-LP-19-0012.” All comments received will be posted publicly online as-is, so do not include personal information you are uncomfortable being shared.
Comments can also be sent physically to Kahl Sesker, Agricultural Marketing Specialist; Research and Promotion Division; Livestock and Poultry Program, AMS, USDA; Room 2610-S, STOP 0251, 1400 Independence Avenue SW; Washington, D.C. 20250-0251; or by fax to 202-720-1125.
Whenever a federal agency changes something, there is a required public comment period. Usually, calls for comments come with specific groups or types of information the proposing agency wants to hear about. This proposal does not come with any such additional information. — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
