Numerous groups are helping tell the beef industry’s nutrition message to consumers, thanks to the national $1-per-head Beef Checkoff Program. According to Wade Zimmerman, who has spent many years as a volunteer developing programs for this cause, one of these checkoff-supported groups is the 10-member Council on Women’s Nutrition Solutions.
Cut #1 :42 Outcue: "...fits in the diet."
Zimmerman is a beef producer from Southeastern Colorado. He says that through the years the beef industry has refocused its messages to better tell the beef nutrition story.
Cut #2 :40 Outcue: "...benefits of beef."
The Checkoff-supported nutrition committees met recently at the 2005 Cattle Industry Summer Conference to discuss programs that address this audience. According to Zimmerman, more producers should take the opportunity, as he has, to see the process first hand.
Cut #3 :17 Outcue: "...checkoff dollars were."
Checkoff-funded nutrition programs for 2006 were reviewed and recommended at the conference. These programs are managed for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the checkoff, by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Oversight is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The national Beef Checkoff Program is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, a group of 108 beef producers appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. They represent producers from coast-to-coast and volunteer their time to help identify programs that can help increase beef demand. The checkoff was created in the 1985 Farm Bill, with oversight provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle and a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.