Agricultural News
Beef Checkoff Working Group Outlines Agreed-Changes to Checkoff
Fri, 23 Jan 2015 15:33:38 CST
With the National Farmers Union pulling out of the Beef Checkoff Working Group last fall, there are still eight groups that are moving forward in trying to enhance the nation's beef checkoff. Chairman of the Working Group is Scott Stuart. He serves as President and CEO of the National Livestock Producers Association, a national organization representing livestock cooperatives.
Stuart said the working group has put together a memorandum of understanding showing the group agrees more financial resources are needed for the national beef checkoff. Stuart said members of the group are now going back to their members to share the group is considering a $1 per head increase in the checkoff. Stuart said the MOU also includes a refund element for the additional $1 per head collected.
"If a producer did not want to pay the extra dollar, they could go through the process and request a refund," Stuart said.
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays interviewed Stuart. Click on the LISTENBAR below for the full interview.
Stuart said this option would be similar to the soybean checkoff, where a producer referendum would be held every five years, so producers would decide the future of the program. He said producers would determine if they wanted to continue the checkoff or possibly increase the assessment in the future. He said the referendum leaves it entirely up to beef producers to vote on this before an assessment fee increase would go into effect.
The Beef Checkoff Working Group has also spent a lot of time discussing who should serve on the beef promotion operating committee. That is the 20 - member group that makes the funding decisions for the checkoff. As part of the MOU, Stuart said the group has suggested there be more involvement from beef industry groups in that decision making process in deciding who those operating committee members would be. He said it sets up a nominating committee for the operating committee that would consist of seven Cattlemen's Beef Board members, seven Federation of State Beef Council members and seven at-large or members of other organizations that have an interest in the beef checkoff.
"That's a big one, because again the operating committee is very important entity and we certainly want to make sure the very best people in the country are a part of that," Stuart said.
Click here for the full Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Agreed-Upon Changes to the Beef Checkoff.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region 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.
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