2003 News Archive
Checkoff Dollars Put to Work on BSE Case
DENVER (Dec. 29, 2003) – Responses to hundreds of media inquiries and distribution of accurate scientific information to media, consumers and producers about BSE and the case of BSE in the state of Washington are a result of cattle producers’ investment of checkoff dollars into a comprehensive issues-management program.
The information about BSE and the isolated case in Washington is being delivered predominantly through the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which currently holds the contract with the Cattlemen’s Beef Board for implementation of checkoff-funded issues-management efforts and represents state beef councils in the same manner.
Within 15 minutes of USDA’s public announcement that a presumptive positive case of BSE had been diagnosed in a dairy cow in Washington state, the checkoff program’s issues-management team held a news conference with about 120 media participants, including CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS Ratio Network, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, and National Public Radio. Immediately thereafter, the team held a follow-up call with state beef councils and others to answer questions and ensure a coordinated state/national crisis response plan.
Since then, Beef Board and NCBA staff have listened to daily updates from USDA, conducted several news briefings, participated in hundreds of media interviews, provided up-to-date information to producer organizations and answered countless individual inquiries from producers, consumers and others interested in or associated with the beef industry.
“As producers, now is one of those times that we see very clearly a direct return on our checkoff dollars,” said Florida beef producer Andy Tucker, who is chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.
“The issues-management program that we fund with our $1-per-head checkoff has allowed us to get scientific information about BSE and up-to-date information about the first case of BSE in the U.S. out to consumers and producers through literally hundreds of interviews and appearances on local, national and international media outlets. Our issues-management team at NCBA worked right through the Christmas holiday to make sure that our response remains quick, constant and comprehensive.”
Besides the information about this isolated case of BSE, Tucker said, much of the scientific information that is being distributed also is itself a result of previous checkoff investments into research programs. In addition, the readiness of issues-management staff stems from training and preparation in case of just such a crisis situation.
“I sure would hate to imagine what kinds of rumors and scare tactics would have been propagated if these checkoff programs were not in place,” Tucker said. “While there is probably no way possible to avoid an issue like this causing some pretty extensive economic repercussions on our industry, I think we can be pretty certain that we would be looking at a much bigger wreck if we did not have this outlet to provide media and consumers with the scientific information they need to be confident that the beef supply in the U.S. remains safe.”
Tucker said it is impossible to keep some media outlets from playing up the most sensational angles they can, and the checkoff’s issues-management team has worked diligently to stem the tide of uninformed or biased journalism. He also noted that some journalists have handled the story very responsibly.
“While not every consumer-media outlet has portrayed all of the pertinent information about BSE without biased comments – and some remain intent on illustrating their stories with decade-old misleading video clips from the UK – I sure would hate to imagine what kinds of misinformation would be roaring through the rumor mills without this concerted effort of our professional team.”
The Beef Board has a link on its www.beefboard.org home page to a Web site funded partially with checkoff dollars at www.bseinfo.org. In addition, up-to-date information about the BSE case is available on the USDA’s site at www.usda.gov.
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The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. The checkoff assessment became mandatory when the program was approved by 79 percent of producers in a 1988 national referendum vote. Checkoff revenues may be used for promotion, education and research programs to improve the marketing climate for beef.
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