Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB) officers Tom Jones, chair, Wesley Grau, vice chair, Weldon Wynn, treasurer, Dan Dierschke, immediate past chair, and Executive Committee member Ted Greidanus this week met with National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) officers Bill Donald, president, J.D. Alexander, president-elect, Scott George, vice president, Steve Foglesong, immediate past president, and David Dick, Federation Division chair, to discuss their mutual commitment to the beef checkoff and to working together in the future.
During the meeting, the following points of agreement were reached:
1. CBB is the organization which administers the Beef Checkoff Program and NCBA is a checkoff contractor. CBB and NCBA will work in partnership to increase the profitability of the industry.
2. The checkoff program staff is doing excellent work managing checkoff programs and their efforts are fully supported by both volunteer leadership and staff. NCBA will continue to be a checkoff contractor.
3. NCBA, as a part of the beef industry but representing all segments, will continue working on making all beef industry participants feel welcome at industry meetings.
4. Improvements need to be made in the relationships between our CEO’s and staffs, and the volunteer leadership of both organizations are committed to improving those working relationships.
5. CBB and NCBA agree to work together to develop a clearer understanding of the expectations and consequences related to compliance with the Act, Order and guidelines. As part of this effort, CBB agreed to review its contractor acknowledgement guidelines.
6. NCBA will provide CBB with written input on CBB’s Roles and Responsibilities recommendations. After the Beef Board takes action on those recommendations during summer conference, a new joint agreement will be developed. Work will continue under the prior joint committee coordination agreement until a new agreement is reached.
“We were able to have a constructive dialogue and find common ground,” said Jones, a third-generation farmer and rancher in Pottsville, Ark. “At this time, we have not scheduled additional meetings with the NCBA leadership, but we will be open to additional meetings prior to summer conference in Orlando.”
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The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff 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 dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Source: The Beef Checkoff Program