Making sure the national Beef Checkoff Program is effective involves planning and proper implementation – as well as timely and comprehensive evaluation.  Rich Otley, director of evaluations for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, says every program area is evaluated over the course of the year, and up to four programs are selected for audit during that period.  He says no program escapes scrutiny. 

Cut #1         :23          Outcue: "...evaluation function itself."

Otley says as an evaluator he gets involved at the very beginning. 

Cut #2         :28          Outcue: "...happen another way.”

According to Otley, sometimes through evaluation it’s discovered that although the program is good, there’s just not enough money to keep it going.

Cut #3         :16          Outcue: "...fund the thing properly."

The bottom line with evaluation for producers, Otley says, is indeed the bottom line. 

Cut #4         :32          Outcue: "...sometimes more than that."

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.