Beef Checkoff To Invest $38 Million Into Beef Programs

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board will invest about $38 million into programs of beef promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications during fiscal 2024, subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In action at the end of its Sept. 6-7 meeting in Denver, Colorado, the Beef Promotion Operating Committee (BPOC) approved checkoff funding for a total of 12 authorization requests for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2023.

The committee, which includes 10 producers and importers from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and 10 producers from the Federation of State Beef Councils, also recommended full Cattlemen’s Beef Board approval of a budget amendment to reflect the split of funding between budget categories affected by their decisions.

Nine contractors and three subcontractors brought 15 authorization requests worth about $49 million, about $11 million more than the funds available from the CBB budget.

“We’re consistently impressed with the proposals that our contractors bring forward each year, and choosing which initiatives to fund is a real challenge,” said Jimmy Taylor, CBB and BPOC chair. “Our budget amounts to slightly less each year because of inflation. To put it in perspective, a dollar in 1985 is worth just 35 cents today. That means we simply don’t have the buying power that we had when this program first started.”

In the end, the BPOC approved proposals from eight national beef organizations for funding through the FY24 Cattlemen’s Beef Board budget, as follows:

• American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture – $800,000
• Cattlemen’s Beef Board – $1,800,000
• Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research and Education – $500,000
• Meat Import Council of America / Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative – $900,000
• National Cattlemen’s Beef Association – $25,405,000
• National Institute for Animal Agriculture – $60,000
• North American Meat Institute – $330,000
• United States Meat Export Federation – $8,150,000

Broken out by budget component—as outlined by the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985—the FY24 Plan of Work for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board budget includes:

• $9,275,000 for promotion programs, including beef and veal campaigns focusing on beef’s nutritional value, eating experience, convenience and production.
• $8,300,000 for research programs focusing on pre- and post-harvest beef safety, scientific affairs, nutrition, sustainability, product quality, culinary technical expertise and consumer perceptions.
• $7,600,550 for consumer information programs, 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. Additional initiatives include outreach and engagement with food, culinary, nutrition and health thought leaders; media and public relations efforts; and supply chain engagement.
• $2,819,450 for industry information programs, including dissemination of accurate information about the beef industry to counter misinformation from other groups, as well as funding for checkoff participation in the annual national industrywide symposium about antibiotic use. Additional efforts in this program area include beef advocacy training and issues/crisis management and response.
• $8,150,000 for foreign marketing and education, focusing on 13 regions, representing more than 90 countries around the world.
• $1,800,000 for producer communications, which includes investor outreach using national communications and direct communications to producers and importers about checkoff results. Elements of this program include ongoing producer listening and analysis; industry collaboration and outreach; and continued development of a publishing strategy and platform and a state beef council content hub.

“Our committee did a great job of balancing our budget and distributing our limited funds in what we believe is the most optimal way possible,” Taylor said.

The full fiscal 2024 Cattlemen’s Beef Board budget is about $42 million. Separate from the authorization requests, other expenses funded include:

• $270,000 for program evaluation;
• $640,500 for program development;
• $200,000 for checkoff education resources;
• $550,000 for USDA oversight;
• $205,000 for state services;
• $270,000 supporting services and litigation; and
• $2 million for CBB administration.

The fiscal year 2024 program budget represents a decrease of slightly less than 1.6%, or $605,000, from the $38.6 million fiscal year 2023 budget.

For more information about the beef checkoff, visit www.beefboard.org.

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