Contact:	(303) 220-9890	beefboard@beef.org

FISCAL 2001 CHECKOFF FUNDING PLAN APPROVED

Denver, Colo., September 21, 2000 – The Beef Promotion Operating Committee has approved a comprehensive checkoff-funded promotion, research and information program for fiscal year 2001, which begins October 1. Approval of the $42.2 million program by the Operating Committee is the final step in 10-month planning process that has included input from more than 1,200 producer leaders of state beef councils and others in the beef industry.

“The action taken here to day is the culmination of nearly a year of planning and the result of input from  hundreds of producers who volunteer to serve on industry committees,” said Cattlemen’s Beef Board Chairman Les McNeill, a Panhandle, Texas cattle feeder.

“The plan for fiscal 2001 is focused on helping the industry continue to build beef demand,” McNeill, who also serves as Operating Committee chairman, pointed out.  He said demand has increased for six straight quarters, and the industry can help continue that momentum through its research, education and promotion programs.

The Operating Committee was created by the Beef Promotion and Research Act to bring state and national beef checkoff dollars together into a national program. Ten of its members are elected by and represent the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, while its 10 other members are selected by state beef councils to represent them. The Operating Committee approves checkoff program plans and contractors.

“Anyone who watched the debate and listened to the questions asked by members of the Operating Committee know that these 20 people take their job of representing cattlemen seriously,” McNeill said. “We turned down proposals totaling more than $2 million, amended several requests before we approved them and, in some cases, even instructed a potential contractor to modify its proposal and bring it back to us at a later meeting.”

Although the plan brought to the Operating Committee was organized according to points of focus, funding must come from specific categories defined in the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order. These funding categories include promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications.

The Operating Committee approved:

• Promotion efforts totaling $25,090,000, including consumer advertising aimed at "moms" (women ages 25-54) with both convenience and nutrition messages, and promotional efforts with grocers and restaurants.
  

• Research totaling $4,552,500 including funding for projects aimed at improving beef safety, product satisfaction and continuation of muscle profiling efforts.
  

• Consumer information programs totaling $4,250,000 aimed at improving the image of beef  through work with doctors and dietitians, food writers and other media.
  

• Industry information programs totaling $1,770,000 aimed at improving the image of the cattle industry and working to manage issues affecting the beef industry.
  

• Foreign marketing totaling $4,675,000, which are to be leveraged with USDA foreign marketing service funds to continue to develop new beef export markets.
  

• Producer communications totaling $1,870,000 to provide information to producers who pay the checkoff to help them better understand the program and program results.

Programs authorized by the Operating Committee must now be approved by USDA before work can be done. Contractors with the Cattlemen's Beef Board work on a cost recovery basis – in other words, they are reimbursed after work is done and the out-of-pocket expenses are incurred and are not allowed to make a profit from the work they do on behalf of the Cattlemen's Beef Board.

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The 110-member Beef Board is appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee collection of the $1-per-head checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement provisions of the Federal Order establishing the checkoff and evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff-funded programs.