Montana Beef Council provides many benefits
My last couple articles were about the timeline and planning process of the $.50 of the dollar checkoff that goes to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board for national contractors to contract for beef promotion, education, research and producer communication.
The other $.50 for many states stays in the state it was collected in with their qualified state beef council. Montana is one of these states. The Montana Beef Council was created in 1954 by cattlemen as a marketing organization for the Montana Beef industry. It is one of 45 state beef councils.
A 12-member board of directors guides the Montana Beef Council. Council members are appointed or elected by membership organizations as follows: Montana Stockgrowers, Montana Cattlemen’s Association, Montana CattleWomen, Livestock Auction Markets, Cattle Feeders, Meat Packer/Processor, Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, Retailer, Dairymen, and Montana Angus Association.
I firmly believe it is important to have this grassroots board and allow Montana producers the voice to determine how their beef checkoff dollars are spent.Whenever you have grassroots input there is ownership and follow through, both extremely important factors for a program to be successful.
Our annual meeting is in September. Contractors from across the state request checkoff dollars for projects. The board is split into committees that hear these proposals. The committee discusses if each authorization request meets the criteria of the Act & Order and the Montana Beef Council’s mission statement.
The Montana Beef Council is organized to protect and increase demand for beef and beef products through state, national and international consumer marketing programs (promotion, education, and research) thereby enhancing profit opportunities for Montana beef producers.
Each committee decides to fund the proposals and at which level. Then the budget committee puts it all together along with in-house staff projects and brings a balanced budget to the board to discuss and approve. This is the start of the next fiscal year and the projects they will see develop with the intent to build beef demand, educate our consumers and medical influencers, and communicate with producers about how their checkoff dollars are at work for them every day.
I know in the country there is confusion about the “Federation”. Many think it is NCBA. The Federation of State Beef Councils is simply a structured voice for ALL state checkoffs. The Federation does operate under the NCBA umbrella. The Federation has evolved over a number of years and provides not only efficiency in overhead costs but also provides consistent information and resources for state beef councils to utilize for design services, website creation, issues management and so much more. The Federation also gives state producers a voice on the national level of how our beef checkoff dollars are spent.
Montana is a cow rich, people poor state so it makes sense to spend some of our dollars in other more populated areas where our dollars can be used more effectively. That is not to say we don’t do some amazing projects and programs at the state level. We do! We have a tremendous staff in place, who works on our behalf every day that are just as passionate about the beef industry as we are!
This being said, it was hard to do a budget this year with the uncertainty the injunction brings. For more than 60 years, the Montana Beef Council has been building relationships and working to build beef demand. As a producer, I ask you to please sign the consent form and continue to give Montana producers a voice and program direction of our checkoff. I believe in the value of the checkoff program and have seen so many positive things come from checkoff work it still
One of the things that excites me is this new promotional ad that is on the Beef It’s What’s For Dinner website and will be used in other areas too. Please go listen today. I think it will excite you too about what the checkoff is doing and working on and go sign the consent form and turn it in today!
Sign your affidavit today to retain local control over your Beef Checkoff.
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About Author
The Montana Stockgrowers Association, a non-profit membership organization, has worked on behalf of Montana’s cattle ranching families since 1884. Our mission is to protect and enhance Montana ranch families’ ability to grow and deliver safe, healthy, environmentally wholesome beef to the world.