A Tough Cutting Job for the Checkoff

Members of the Operating Committee had a tough time making the cuts they needed to today to balance checkoff funding requests with anticipated checkoff collections in Fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1. The producer members of the committee debated for hours trying to agree on the prioritization of some 40 proposals, or “Authorization Requests” that surpassed the national checkoff’s $46.8 million national program budget for the coming year.

Motion after motion, amendment after amendment, vote after vote, the producer members went back and forth looking for ways to cut a little here, add a little there, move a little from here to there, and then start over  and do it again. In the end, CBB and Operating Committee Chairman Ken Stielow said he thought that while it was among the toughest Operating Committee meetings ever, it was also one of the best, because the committee members really went to the mat to choose a slate of programs that they believe truly will leverage producers’ checkoff dollars to the greatest extent possible in 2008.

The recommended plan of work — which still must be approved by USDA before any funds are expended — breaks down by budget category and then by individual programs approved, with contractor identified, as follows:

• Promotion — $27.8 million
  • Northeast Retail Marketing — Meat Importers Council of America (MICA) and Northeast State Beef Councils
  • Northeast Foodservice Marketing – MICA and Northeast State Beef Councils
  • Consumer Advertising – National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA)
  • Retail Marketing – NCBA
  • Foodservice Marketing – NCBA
  • New Product, Culinary Initiatives & National Beef Cook-off – NCBA and American National CattleWomen (ANCW)
  • Veal Promotion – NCBA and American Veal Association

• Research — $7.4 million – NCBA
  • Beef Safety Research
  • Product Enhancement Research
  • Nutrition Research
  • Market Research

•  Consumer Information — $6.3 million
  • Northeast Public Relations — MICA and Northeast State Beef Councils
  • Public Relations – NCBA
  • Nutrition Influencers – NCBA
  • Youth Education & Information – NCBA

• Industry Information — $2.4 million -
  • Beef & Veal Issues Management – NCBA
  • National Beef Ambassador Program – ANCW
  • Beef & Veal Quality Assurance – NCBA

• Foreign Marketing — $5.25 million — USMEF
  • Taiwan Promotional Campaign
  • ASEAN Promotional Campaign
  • Caribbean Promotional Campaign
  • Central/South America Promotional Campaign 
  • Dominican Republic Promotional Campaign
  • Europe Promotional Campaign
  • Greater China Promotional Campaign
  • Japan Promotional Campaign
  • South Korea Promotional Campaign
  • Mexico Promotional Campaign
  • Middle East Promotional Campaign
  • Russia Promotional Campaign

• Producer Communications — $2.3 million
  • Producer Outreach Using Beefmobiles — National Livestock Producers Association
  • Producer Communications — CBB

With redistribution of some dollars in specific program areas, the plan of work will also require approval of a budget amendment by both the full Beef Board and USDA. The Board approval on the amendment will be requested via mail before program expenditures can be reimbursed for Fiscal 2008.