Agricultural News
NCBA Responds to Groups Having Concerns Over Restructuring Plan with Their Own Letter to USDA's Vilsack
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 6:21:49 CDT
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has had ample reading material sent to him in recent days by groups that have members that raise cattle and have a stake in the beef checkoff program. We reported on Monday on our Beef Buzz- click here to jump to that report which includes a link to the letter sent last week to Secretary Vilsack from six groups that have cattle producers as a part of their membership. Those groups include the American Farm Bureau, the National Farmers Union and the Livestock Marketing Association (plus 3 more) that expressed "grave concerns" about the National Cattlemen's Beef Association redoing the structure of their organization.
The concern lies in how that impacts the half of the Beef Checkoff dollar that is controlled by State Beef Councils and who put a portion of that money into the pot that is controlled by the Federation of State Beef Councils. They express the opinion that NCBA policy members will have an "insiders" track on being able to influence how checkoff dollars will be spent that cattle members from other groups will have little or no influence over.
Today on our Beef Buzz, we review a second letter that has been put together by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and signed by their three national officers refuting the first letter and claiming that NCBA will become more inclusive and that any and all cattle producers of any group will be welcome to come to their Committee meetings and express their opinion and even have a vote. "Likewise, in the improved structure, cattle producers no longer have to be appointed to NCBA Committees. These meetings will be open to all individual members of NCBA, members of the Federation of State Beef Councils, Cattlemen Association and Breed Association Affiliates and invited guests like members of the Cattlemen's Beef Board. This will be a 'come-all' meeting where everyone has the opportunity to speak and vote."
On the real issue that these groups are arguing over is the money. NCBA claims in their letter that only those cattle producers that have been charged with a fiduciary responsibility will have the right and the ability to decide how checkoff monies will be spent. "Many State Beef Council Boards choose to invest in the Federation of State Beef Council Division of NCBA to execute state-national plans to build and protect beef demand. This is a voluntary investment. Every year, NCBA has to earn this investment. So how is this investment earned? It is earned by doing effective beef demand-building and protecting work and delivering the promise of the Beef Checkoff. This is an inherent check and balance and why it will never be in the best interest of NCBA to use checkoff funds in any other way than what the checkoff was created to do: Build and Protect Beef Demand. "
We review key elements of both letters and you can see the Farm Bureau/NFU/LMA letter by clicking on the link above- and you can see the NCBA letter by clicking on the PDF file link found at the bottom of this page.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
03422_3_22_10_NCBA_letter_to_USDA.pdf
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