A group of 130 lawmakers representing 11 states sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking for “an immediate referendum on the Beef Checkoff program and allow our producers a voice in their industry.”
“As state legislators, we closely represent our producers’ interests. We desire to firmly stand on the matters of accountability. When our constituents’ livelihoods are not being properly represented by a mandatory beef checkoff program that has taxed them for 35 years without giving them an opportunity to express where those ‘advertising’ dollars go, the system is broken,” the letter states.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill and assesses $1 per head sold on animals to promote beef. The checkoff assessment became mandatory when the program was approved by 79 percent of producers in a 1988 national referendum vote.
Lawmakers stated in the letter that the monies are being “funneled” from their original intent into “private associations and entities that do not exclusively represent USA beef.”
“Why is a federally mandated tax going to support and promote foreign beef as well as private entities?” the letter states.
The lawmakers are asking the dollars from the checkoff program to be used for advertising domestic beef with a program that works for them, not against them. They are requesting Vilsack to sunset the program and an opportunity for producers to vote on whether to continue the program.
Producers and groups, including R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America), launched a petition drive in July 2020 to obtain nearly 89,000 signatures from producers calling for a vote on the Beef Checkoff Program. The deadline to submit the names of producers is July 2. — WLJ
