Agricultural News
R-Calf's Bill Bullard Will Fight to Keep Oklahoma Beef Checkoff From Being Implemented If Cattle Producers Approve the Measure
Mon, 16 Oct 2017 06:20:22 CDT
A small group of Oklahoma producers turned out to hear the Chief Executive Officer of R-Calf USA speak on Saturday night in Oklahoma City. Bill Bullard, who is based in Billings, Montana, made a quick in and out trip to Oklahoma City to promote his group's intentions to sue the State of Oklahoma over the referendum that is now underway that, if approved, would establish a secondary state beef checkoff of a dollar per head on all cattle sold in Oklahoma.
State agricultural groups that have cattle producers as a part of their membership, worked together to establish the framework for a state beef checkoff, and the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association is the lead organization that organized the effort to get signatures from cattle producers asking for the vote, took those petitions to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture that certified the OCA as an official representative for the cattle producers in the state and accepted the OCA plan for a vote this fall that is now underway.
Voting by mail continues through October 20th and the in person vote happens November first at OSU Cooperative Extension offices in all 77 Oklahoma Counties on November first during their normal business hours. If the measure is approved, it will likely go into effect in early 2018- the state level checkoff is a refundable assessment- meaning if a producer wants his money back- he will be able to make that request. Most of the other state level beef checkoff programs across the country, including the one in Texas, are structured that way.
Bullard told Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays that his group has already been successful in disrupting federal beef checkoff dollars from being spent by the Montana Beef Council. His group filed the complaint in the US District Court for the District of Montana in 2016. R-CALF argued that the checkoff program violates the First Amendment by forcing beef producers to subsidize advertisements that contradict their values. The federal court ruled in their favor and the Montana Beef Council continues to collect the federal beef checkoff assessment- but cannot not keep their half of the dollar but instead are sending it all to the Cattlemen's Beef Board since the court believes that USDA does not have adequate control over the Montana Beef Council.
It is the success in the Montana case that has Bullard looking south to Oklahoma- hoping to derail the implementation of the Oklahoma Beef Checkoff if approved by Oklahoma beef producers. Bullard contends that the law that the checkoff refereundum is based on is illegal- saying "we think that this case is ripe for litigation- we think that the referendum itself is unlawful based on Oklahoma law based on what research we have done." Bullard says as a result "It is our intention to challenge the validity of this referendum."
Bullard acknowledges that with the vote already underway that they probably cannot stop the vote- but the R-Calf plan is to challenge a "Yes" vote by producers from ever taking effect. "it's going to be our goal to stop the results of the referendum from ever going into effect."
You can hear all of the comments from Bullard by clicking or tapping on the LISTEN BAR below.
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