2003 News Archive
Operating Committee Approves 2004 Plan of Work for Checkoff Program
DENVER (Sept. 19, 2003) – The Beef Promotion Operating Committee this week approved a comprehensive beef checkoff promotion, research and information program for fiscal 2004, which begins Oct. 1, 2003. The program is built upon consumer demand drivers including enjoyment, nutrition and beef safety, toward building demand for beef through the checkoff funds of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.
A total of $47.7 million in projected checkoff revenue was available for program funding. But proposals for funding surpassed that by more than $6 million, as a total of 10 beef-industry organizations presented about 67 different proposals seeking a combined total of about $54 million to carry out checkoff programs during the coming year. After a day and a half of presentations and discussions, the committee approved a plan of work that included 46 programs from eight of those 10 organizations.
Contractors whose program proposals were 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 American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF); the National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA); the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (AFBFA); and the American Veal Association (AVA).
“We were thrilled at the quantity and quality of the proposals that we were presented to build demand for beef,” said Andy Tucker, a Florida cow-calf producer and chairman of the Operating Committee. “In my memory, there have never been so many solid checkoff proposals from so many different organizations. Of course, that meant that we had a very difficult task before us as we tried to select from among them but we feel like we put together a package of programs that will give producers the best possible return on their checkoff investment in fiscal 2004.”
Tucker, 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 help improve cattlemen’s opportunities for profit. The checkoff-funded programs aim to respond to consumers’ ever-evolving preferences, giving producers information they need to maintain a safe beef supply that instills consumer confidence.
“The open process of the Beef Checkoff Program is evident in the fact that two of the contractors whose program proposals were approved for funding this week are beef industry organizations that have never before brought proposals before the Operating Committee,” Tucker said. “There wasn’t a single proposal that didn’t have some level of merit for beef producers, but it’s a shame that we were forced to cut a few of them simply because there are not enough checkoff dollars to accomplish them all.”
Among cuts were nearly $4 million in proposals from NCBA, in addition to requests for funding from the North American Meat Processors and the North American Limousin Foundation. Requests from some of the other applicants also were approved at reduced funding levels.
“That said,” Tucker said, “we are very excited about the prospects that the selected proposals hold for the beef producers throughout the country. “We believe that these programs will help produce an environment that will allow our generation and future ones to continue in the industry about which we care so deeply.”
The checkoff plan of work approved for fiscal 2004 includes:
· $26.6 million for promotion. The promotion plan includes about $14.6 million for consumer advertising efforts coordinated by NCBA, in addition to support for retail marketing, support for ANCW’s National Beef Cook-Off, foodservice marketing, new product and culinary initiatives and veal promotion. In addition, the Operating Committee approved $125,000 in promotion funding (to combine with a like $125,000 from the producer communications budget component) to fund a “Beefmobile” proposal from NLPA to fund a beef van that will travel to food retail and auction barn sites to share information with consumers and producers about beef checkoff programs.
· $6.3 million for research projects focused on a variety of critical issues, including beef safety, product enhancement and market and nutrition research. A research program managed by AMIF will address the need for validation of appropriate sampling and testing protocols to detect E. coli 0157:H7 in raw beef products.
· $6 million for consumer information programs, including about $2.75 million for public relations, in addition to about $796,000 for programs focused on youth education and information, including production of a youth “Beef Mag” by AFBFA.
· $1.5 million for industry information projects. This area includes investment in 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.
· $5.2 million for foreign marketing efforts managed by USMEF, including about $1.9 million for marketing of U.S. beef in Japan, and other promotion programs in regions including the Caribbean, China, Central/South America, Europe, Korea, Mexico, Russia and Taiwan.
· $2 million for producer communications, which includes direct and indirect communications with beef, dairy and veal producers through NCBA, NLPA and AVA, 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 $12.3 million in allocations from the Federation of State Beef Councils will further increase checkoff funding of the promotion programs by $5.4 million; research by $1.7 million; consumer information by $1.3 million; industry information by $718,000; foreign marketing efforts by $2.3 million; and producer communications programs by $868,000.
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.
# # #