Vilsack Suggests a Secondary Beef Check off Program

Last week the groups that have been working for more than three years towards a memorandum of understanding for the Beef Checkoff Enhancement, learned from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, that if they can’t deliver a solution about how to move forward with the current Beef Checkoff Program very soon, the Secretary plans create a new Beef Checkoff supplemental program through the 1996 Generic Commodity Promotion Act which is a very different Act than the current Beef Checkoff program is under.
However, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Bob McCan says that the Secretary idea isn’t the best way to move forward.
McCan: “From the reaction we’ve gotten from our producer-members and state affiliates in the past few days, they feel it is somewhat-threatening. Certainly yea, it is attractive for everybody with the additional dollar. But the additional dollar could come with a whole lot of additional costs and and a whole lot of risk to the whole program. The 1996 Generic Act opens up the administrative costs to 15 percent — where we have a 5 percent cap currently. We feel like it opens up for a lot of inefficiencies that we have managed to overcome in our current checkoff and gotten very efficient and very successful. We have a tremendous approval rating from cattle producers across the country. We just don’t think it is necessary what he is recommending.”