Beef Checkoff and Policy Funding | Checkoff Chat

Beef Checkoff and Policy Funding | Checkoff Chat

While the Checkoff may provide education and information about beef, it does not fund policy work

Q: Does the checkoff fund policy like COOL and the Dietary Guidelines?

A: The checkoff can only be a resource for information about beef and is prohibited from engaging in discussions about policy. Local, state and national policy membership organizations were formed for this reason and they carry out lobbying on behalf of their membership policies.

No checkoff dollars whatsoever have been used in any comments or actions related to COOL by any checkoff contractors or associated organizations on behalf of the checkoff. As the administrator of the Beef Checkoff, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board cannot take a position on policy matters and cannot lobby. These are matters producers should take up with their individual farming and ranching organizations.

Read more about the Beef Checkoff Programs in our Checkoff Chat Series with the Montana Beef Council. Click here to submit your own questions to be answered in future posts.

About the Beef Checkoff
The Beef Checkoff Program (MyBeefCheckoff.com) was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. It assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the $1 and forward the other 50 cents to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. The Montana Beef Council was created in 1954 by cattlemen as a marketing organization for the Montana beef industry and is organized to protect and increase demand for beef and beef products through state, national and international beef promotion, research and education, thereby enhancing profit opportunities for Montana beef producers.