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Cattleman Ready for Higher Beef Checkoff
Published Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 04:49 AM
A member of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion Board says we are cutting into the – muscle - of many good programs, because the money to support them is simply not available. Bob Drake points to the fixed amount checked off per animal of one dollar per head as being the culprit. Not that it’s bad, but after 20-years of inflation its effectiveness has eroded. He says he would personally – like to see the checkoff raised to $2.00 per head.

But raising the checkoff will take a lot of work. To get there, Drake says, will require getting all stakeholders, or what he calls the – base - together on a plan that can be taken to USDA and Congress sometime next year. He emphasizes that a yes vote will need to be sold to grassroots cattlemen as needed and good for the entire industry, as well as their well being in the cattle business.

Drake says programs have been in place and have been working for producers, but they now face at the least cuts- and in the future- elimination.

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