02/19/08 What cattlemen expect from the CBB

What can cattle producers expect from the Cattlemen's Beef Board this year. We put that question to Tom Jones, a member of the CBB executive and advertising committees. JONES "I realize that we can always talk about the challenges that are in front of us but it also hope we look at the opportunities that we have. We just last summer at the summer meeting we had a great conference with our dairy friends. That could be a real exciting opportunity going forward. I hope people will come away with this with the optimism do the best we can." Jones says the ultimate goal of the checkoff funding program is to help keep the demand for beef high." JONES "We have to be very clear that the beef checkoff is about promoting our product which is beef and so let me say that as long as we can do the advertising and the research that we need for domestic use and hopefully we can make those points that need to be made for opening foreign markets. We've got to keep that demand for beef high." The Beef Checkoff Program was started in 1985 as part of the Farm Bill. States retain half of the one dollar per head assessment on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle. The other 50 cents goes to the beef board. Some states like Idaho are exploring the possibility of raising the assessment to two dollars per head. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott