Recently, I caught a debate going on about the Opportunity for Fair Farming (OFF) Act, which wants to pick apart the Beef Checkoff program. This little debate has been going on my entire career, since 1986 when the act was passed. I still have letters from those days from angry cattle owners because I supported the self-help program.
You need to all remember how the cattle industry was doing in the ’70s and ’80s. It was not very good; the dairy buyout didn’t help much, but that’s old news. The cow herd may have been much larger then, but the beef wasn’t good.
But we have folks attempting to compare the numbers from 1970 through 2022 to display beef demand and whether the Beef Checkoff has done the industry any good. Beef supplies in 1970 were 84.4 pounds per capita, while chicken supplies were 40 lbs. per capita. Today, beef supplies are 56 lbs. and chicken supplies are 101 lbs., and the chicken industry does not have a checkoff promotion authority.
I cannot think of two fundamentally different protein-producing industries. Chickens are raised in chicken barns under a controlled environment; it is much easier to produce chicken when you have some control over Mother Nature. The chicken industry has been on a growth track for 50 years with consistent gains annually. We also export around 15% of our poultry production. In 1970 the population was around 200 million, and today it’s 340 million, give or take.
The beef industry has always been at the fate of Mother Nature; we can’t raise the beasts indoors and control the environment. And it has been a passive industry. Lots of people own 20 cows and sell a few calves, which generally aren’t weaned. Auction markets are the great consolidators of the cattle business and feedlots further consolidate feeders into finished cattle.
I would also point out how the environmental laws of the 1970s have diminished cattle grazing, especially on public lands; land development has claimed more grazing pastures. Everybody sees cows grazing where very few people see poultry or hog production, even though it is going on under their noses.
However, the Beef Checkoff has helped the cattle industry produce a far better product today. Genetics, feeding technology and a host of production protocols have been adopted by the industry as best practices. Ever since we started producing 85% Choice and Prime, beef demand has been outstanding. The beef industry produces around 26.5 billion lbs. of beef while the poultry industry produces 46.1 billion lbs.
I know you all hate hearing that it is a function of supply, demand and a price. Consumers will buy what they want if they can afford it, and they are still able to afford it, even at higher prices.
So, I am at the point where the anti-Beef Checkoff groups should lay off and enjoy the 45-year history of the checkoff. I realize that there are folks who have made careers of hating the Beef Checkoff, but let us get over the disagreement and get along—we will do much better as an industry if we unify, develop and market a better product. This is why the hog industry and the poultry industry have consolidated, to produce a more consistent product that consumers prefer. Also, you do not want the government anywhere near having influence on your markets. You know as well as I do that they are not there to help. You need to know that the government that endorses the many risk insurance products we have seen lately didn’t develop them, it’s private enterprises bringing those products to the market for risk management. They just sold to the government to subsidize them. Which will be a big issue in the next farm bill.
Politicians understand food security, but they do not understand you—at least not very many of them. So, get over the checkoff you have benefited from, and besides, $1 on a $1,500 steer calf is not going to break your bank. If it does, you are already gone. Pray for May rains. — PETE CROW
