OPERATING COMMITTEE APPROVES 2005 PLAN OF WORK FOR BEEF CHECKOFF PROGRAM

CENTENNIAL, COLO. (Sept. 24, 2004) - The Beef Promotion Operating Committee - including 10 members of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) and 10 members of the Federation of State Beef Councils - today approved a comprehensive beef checkoff promotion, research and information program for fiscal 2005, which begins Oct. 1, 2004. The program is built upon consumer demand drivers including enjoyment, nutrition and beef safety, and is designed to build demand for beef using the checkoff funds of the CBB.

A total of about $47.2 million in projected checkoff revenue was available to budget toward programs. But proposals for funding surpassed that by $575,000, so the Operating Committee could not approve all funding requests in full. After a day and a half of presentations and discussions, however, the producers on the committee approved a plan of work that they believe will best serve to build demand for beef in the coming year and, thus, generally increase producers’ opportunities for profit.

Contractors whose program proposals are included in the plan - which still must be approved by USDA before any funds may be spent - are the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), the American National Cattlewomen (ANCW); the Meat Importers Council of America (MICA); the National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA); and the American Veal Association (AVA).

“We were pleased at the quality of the proposals that the various industry organizations presented for our consideration,” said Nelson Curry, a Kentucky cattleman and chairman of the Operating Committee. “We really tried to focus on the priorities identified by producers who sit on the industry’s joint committees in making our recommendations for checkoff funding, and I think we have a strong slate of projects to give producers the best possible return on their checkoff investment in fiscal 2005.”

Curry, who also chairs the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, said the program includes a balance of advertising, research and information programs designed to respond to consumer demands for convenient, flavorful and tender beef products and to give producers the information they need to maintain a safe beef supply that maintains strong consumer confidence - both in their product and in their industry.

The checkoff plan of work approved for fiscal 2005 includes:

·              More than $25.5 million for promotion. Promotion efforts will include about $13.2 million for consumer advertising efforts coordinated by NCBA, in addition to support for retail marketing; the National Beef Cook-Off managed by ANCW; foodservice marketing; new product and culinary initiatives and veal promotion. In addition, the Operating Committee approved $25,000 in consumer-promotion funding (to combine with $125,000 from the producer communications budget component) to fund a “Beefmobile” proposal from NLPA. The focus of that project is a beef van that travels to auction barns and consumer venues to share information about beef and the Beef Checkoff Program.

·              About $6.7 million for research projects focused on a variety of critical issues, including beef safety, product enhancement and market and nutrition research.

·              $6.15 million for consumer information programs, including about $2.6 million for public relations, in addition to about $711,000 for programs focused on youth education and information, including extension of the popular “Fit for a Princess” nutrition education program in use by Girl Scout troops nationwide.

·              $1.66 million for industry information projects. This area includes investment in beef, veal and dairy-beef quality assurance programs, the National Beef Ambassador program, and issues management to get out positive information about the beef industry and to counter general misinformation from anti-beef groups.

·              $5 million for foreign marketing efforts managed by USMEF, including education programs and marketing of U.S. beef in Japan, the Caribbean, China, Central/South America, Europe, Korea, Mexico, Russia and Taiwan. In addition, the committee budgeted $500,000 for additional marketing efforts when more export markets reopen to U.S. beef.

·              More than $2.1 million for producer communications, which includes communications with beef, dairy and veal producers through CBB, NCBA, and NLPA, state beef council coordination efforts, and trade media coordination, as well as $5,000 for importer communications through the Meat Importers Council of America and the $125,000 toward the “Beefmobile” program described in the promotion section above.

A separate $12.7 million in allocations from the Federation of State Beef Councils will further increase checkoff funding of the national promotion programs by $3.96 million; research by $1.18 million; consumer information by $1.06 million; industry information by $1.4 million; foreign marketing efforts by $2.3 million; and producer communications programs by $773,000. An additional $1.45 million also has been allocated by the Federation of State Beef Councils for other state activities that do not have matching funding from the Beef Board.

Programs authorized by the Operating Committee now must be approved by USDA before any money can be spent. Contractors of the checkoff dollars work on a cost-recovery basis and cannot profit from work they do on behalf of the Beef Board and state beef councils.

_____________

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 oversees the national checkoff program, subject to USDA oversight. 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.