1999 News Archive
FISCAL 2000 CHECKOFF FUNDING PLAN APPROVED
Omaha, Nebr., September 23, 1999 – The Beef Promotion Operating Committee approved a comprehensive checkoff-funded promotion, research and information program for fiscal year 2000, which begins Oct. 1. Approval of the $42.255 million program by the Operating Committee is the last step by producers in a 10-month planning process that has included input from more than 1,600 cattlemen and others in the beef industry. USDA must still approve the program.
"Action taken here today puts into motion one of the most focused efforts ever funded by the checkoff,” said Cattlemen’s Beef Board Chairman Lyle Gray, a Leon, Kansas cow-calf producer. “It is the result of the combined efforts of hundreds of producers who volunteer to serve on industry committees.
"The plan for fiscal 2000 focuses more than 80 percent of our resources in four primary areas: convenience, nutrition, safety and foreign marketing," Gray, who also serves as Operating Committee chairman, pointed out.
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.
"We had good discussion and debate during the course of the meeting. And it’s clear that these 20 people take their job of representing cattlemen seriously," Gray said.
Funding for programs must come from specific categories defined in the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order, including promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications.
The Operating Committee approved:
- Promotion efforts totaling $25.425 million, including consumer advertising and promotional efforts with grocers and restaurants.
- Research totaling $3.9 million to fund work ranging from studies of human nutrition and market research to product quality research.
- Consumer information programs totaling $4.325 million aimed at improving the image of beef through work with doctors and dietitians, teachers, food writers and other media.
- Industry information programs totaling $1.795 million aimed at improving the image of the cattle industry and working to manage issues affecting the beef industry.
- Foreign marketing totaling $4.86 million, which is to be leveraged with USDA foreign marketing service funds to continue to develop beef export markets.
- Producer communications totaling $1.95 million to provide information to producers who pay the checkoff so they better understand the program and program results.
USDA must now approve each proposal approved by the Operating Committee as well as the contracts under which work is to be done before work can be done. Contractors for the Cattlemen's Beef Board work on a cost recovery basis – in other words, they are reimbursed only after work is done and the out-of-pocket expenses are incurred for the project. Contractors are not allowed to profit from the work they do on behalf of the Cattlemen's Beef Board.
The national beef checkoff is administered by the Cattlemen's Beef Board. Its 111 board members – 104 of them producers – are nominated by state beef producer organizations and appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. CBB oversees the collection of the checkoff, certifies state beef councils, implements the provisions of the Federal order establishing the checkoff and evaluates the effectiveness of checkoff programs. Funds can only be spent for promotion, research and information programs designed to increase demand for beef and veal.