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Task Force announces Checkoff enhancementsBy Doug Rich The Industry-Wide Beef Checkoff Task Force announced enhancement recommendations for the Beef Checkoff Program during the 2007 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tenn. The Task Force has completed its work with the announcement of these recommendations. The recommendations are as follows: An opportunity to petition for a referendum--The Task Force recommends that the beef referendum process be revised to provide producers the opportunity to petition every five years for a referendum on continuing the Checkoff. This is similar to the Soybean referendum model. An adjustment of the checkoff rate--To assure strong demand-building initiatives for the beef industry in the future and to offset 20 years of inflation, adjust the per head checkoff rate to $2. The 50-50 split between State Beef Councils and Beef Board would remain the same. Enhanced understanding of the Federation of State Beef Councils--The Federation of State Beef Councils gives priority to enhancing its identity in order to strengthen beef industry stakeholder understanding of the Federation. Options such as changing its name from The Federation Division to The Beef Checkoff Federation could be considered. Making the Checkoff more inclusive--The Task Force recommended that any reference to the charter date of established national non-profit industry governed organizations be eliminated from definition in the Beef Promotion and Research Order. Within the Task Force there was one dissenting vote for the first enhancement, four dissenting votes for the second enhancement, one dissenting vote for the third enhancement, and a unanimous vote for the fourth enhancement. The Industry-Wide Beef Checkoff Task Force was made up of 12 national organizations and six state representatives. This group included the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, R-CALF-USA, the Livestock Marketing Association, and National Live Stock Producers Association. The mission of this Task Force was to review, study, and recommend enhancement to the Beef Act and Order for the purpose of strengthening the Checkoff for the common good of the beef industry. The Task Force was organized by the NCBA in cooperation with the American Farm Bureau Federation. Information from a regularly conducted producer attitude survey was used by the Task Force. Aspen Media and Market Research conducted the survey on behalf of the Cattlemen's Beef Board to determine producer attitudes about the beef checkoff program. This is a much smaller and separate survey than the recently released Gallop survey. Although the Task Force has completed it assigned task there is more work to done before these enhancements become reality. Next producers need to consider these recommendations according to the organizations policy development processes. If producers approved of these enhancements the congressional committees and USDA will be asked to amend the Beef Research and Promotion Act and Order. Finally, if the Act and Order is amended then a producer referendum will be held to consider the amendments. 0 None None Date: 2/23/07
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