Operating Committee Recommends Budget

The Beef Promotion Operating Committee June 23-24 recommended a $52.5 million beef checkoff budget for fiscal year 2005, reflecting an increase of about 3.9 percent from the $50.5 million initial budget for fiscal 2004.

The increase is a result of a slight increase in projected revenue but mostly due to the cost of some current projects being completed under budget. The Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, projects revenues of $47.3 million for fiscal 2005.

The breakdown of the budget recommendation, which must be approved by the full Beef Board and USDA before any funds are expended, includes the following budget elements: promotion ($26.8 million); research ($6.95 million); consumer information ($6.4 million); industry information ($1.8 million); foreign marketing ($5.6 million); producer communications ($2.1 million); evaluation ($210,000); program development ($130,000); USDA oversight ($220,000); and administration ($2.25 million). The 2005 fiscal year begins Oct. 1, 2004.

“We took a hard look at what areas we need to focus on to provide the most benefit for producers in the current market environment,” said Nelson Curry, a producer from Kentucky and chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the Operating Committee. “We believe that the budget for the coming year will allow us to concentrate on building demand for beef and  improve producers’ opportunities for profit by accomplishing a combination of promotion, research and information efforts that keep beef at the center of America’s plate.”

During the Operating Committee meeting in Albuquerque, Cattlemen’s Beef Board member Jim Little — a producer from Idaho and vice chairman of the Joint Industry Budget Committee — presented the budget committee’s recommendation from the Beef Board’s perspective. The recommended promotion segment of the budget for 2005 represents an overall decrease from the current fiscal year, he said, because the Beef Board dedicated an additional $1.5 million to domestic summer promotion this year, amid continued closure of the majority of export markets. 

The recommended research budget for fiscal 2005 represents an increase in funding for additional market research in the areas of BSE, nutrition, and youth attitudes, and allows for expansion of the checkoff’s issues-tracking efforts. Meanwhile, the committee is recommending an increase in the Beef Board’s consumer information budget to provide additional public relations efforts and more funding to reach out to nutrition influencers in 2005.

In the Industry Information segment of the budget, the Beef Board is recommending a slight decrease compared to the final 2004 budget, which included expanded funding for crisis management in the wake of the Dec. 23, 2003 announcement of a case of BSE in the U.S. The foreign marketing segment of the recommended checkoff budget represents an increase for the coming year, mostly because the budget was reduced during fiscal 2004 to help fund additional domestic summer promotions. Finally, while total funding for producer communications efforts is expected to remain at about the same level in 2005 as it was in 2004, the Beef Board’s share would increase slightly as the portion offered by the Federation of State Beef Councils declines. 

In the coming stages of the fiscal 2005 budgeting process, the full Beef Board will be asked to approve a budget at its meeting in Denver in August. Joint industry advisory committees and subcommittees also will meet in Denver to prepare recommendations for specific program proposals, which then are considered by the Operating Committee in September, before the Oct. 1 beginning of the fiscal year. They must be approved by USDA before any checkoff dollars may be spent.