Checkoff 2020 Plan of Action

Beef Promotion Operating Committee approves fiscal year 2020 checkoff plan of work.

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) will invest approximately $40.9 million into programs of beef promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications during fiscal 2020, subject to USDA approval.

In action at the end of its Sept. 10-11 meeting in Denver, Colo., the Beef Promotion Operating Committee (BPOC) approved checkoff funding for a total of 15 “Authorization Requests” — or grant proposals — brought by seven contractors for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2019. The committee, which includes 10 producers from the CBB and 10 producers from the Federation of State Beef Councils, also recommended full CBB approval of a budget amendment to reflect the split of funding between budget categories affected by their decisions.

The seven contractors brought a total of $50,766,964 worth of funding requests to the BPOC, nearly $10 million more than the funds available from the CBB budget.

“The BPOC is completely producer-driven. We have cattlemen and women from all over the U.S., as well as importers, deciding where these checkoff dollars need to be spent,” says CBB and BPOC Chairman Chuck Coffey. “It’s always great to hear about the programs and projects proposed by our contractors to utilize our checkoff dollars, yet on the other side, an equally difficult decision to balance the budget and distribute those dollars according to where we believe will be most useful for driving beef demand.”

The BPOC approved proposals from seven national beef organizations for funding through the fiscal year (FY) 2020 CBB budget as follows:

• National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) — five proposals for $27,383,347
• U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) — one proposal for $8,279,846
• North American Meat Institute (NAMI) — four proposals for $1,953,345
• CBB — one proposal for $1,645,993
• American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture — one proposal for $698,300
• Meat Import Council of America — one proposal for $498,786
• United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) — one proposal for $359,126
• National Livestock Producers Association — one proposal for $99,757

Broken out by budget components, which are outlined by the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985, the FY 2020 Plan of Work for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board budget includes the following.

• $10.4 million for promotion programs, including continuation of the checkoff’s consumer digital advertising program, as well as veal promotion.
• $9.5 million for research programs, focusing on a variety of critical issues, including pre- and postharvest beef safety research, product quality research, human nutrition research and scientific affairs, market research, and beef and culinary innovations.
• $7.6 million for consumer information programs, including a Northeast public relations initiative; and national consumer public relations, including nutrition-influencer relations and work with primary- and secondary-school curriculum directors nationwide to get accurate information about the beef industry into classrooms of today’s youth.
• $3.4 million for industry information programs, comprising dissemination of accurate information about the beef industry to counter misinformation from anti-beef groups and others, as well as funding for checkoff participation in a fifth-annual national industry-wide symposium focused on discussion and dissemination of information about antibiotic use.
• $8.3 million for foreign marketing and education in 80 countries in the following regions: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, Caribbean, Central America/Dominican Republic, China/Hong Kong, Europe, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Middle East, Russia/Greater Russian Region, South America, Taiwan and new markets.
• $1.6 million for producer communications, which includes investor outreach using national communications and direct communications to producers and importers about checkoff results, as well as development and utilization of a publishing strategy and platform, and a state beef council content hub.

The full fiscal 2020 CBB budget is approximately $44.5 million. Separate from the authorization requests, other expenses funded include $227,000 for program evaluation; $474,500 for program development; $800,000 for USDA oversight, which includes $400,000 for Agricultural Marketing Service oversight and $400,000 for CBB’s legal and compliance; and $2.1 million for CBB administration. The fiscal 2020 budget represents an increase of $614,600 from the $43.9 million FY 2019 budget.

For more information about the Beef Checkoff and its programs, including promotion, research, foreign marketing, industry information, consumer information and safety, contact the CBB at 303-220-9890 or visit DrivingDemandForBeef.com.

Editor’s note: This article is from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.