Ag Checkoff Reform and NCBA Wants Brazilian Beef Imports Halted
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**A bipartisan group of Senators lead an effort to reform agricultural checkoff programs.
Checkoffs are mandatory Department of Agriculture fees assessed on a per-unit basis that fund boards designed to promote the commodity as a whole.
Among other things, the bill would prohibit checkoff programs from contracting with any organization that lobbies on agricultural policy.
The legislation met mixed reviews from agriculture groups.
**The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is calling on Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to immediately halt U.S. beef imports from Brazil.
The announcement comes as Brazil reported another atypical case of Mad Cow disease last week.
That report indicated 35 days elapsed between when the case was first identified and the date it was confirmed.
NCBA president Todd Wilkinson says, “We have seen Brazil repeatedly fail to meet the 24-hour requirement for reporting animal diseases.”
**The supply of chicken available to eat in the U.S. continues to outpace beef, according to new food availability data from the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
In 2021, 68.1 pounds of chicken per person were available for human consumption, on a boneless, edible basis, compared with 56.2 pounds of beef.
The availability of chicken began to increase in the 1940s, overtaking pork availability in 1996 and surpassing beef in 2010 to become the meat most available for U.S. consumption.
