Committee Approves Initiatives for FY2011

The Operating Committee wrapped up tough discussions yesterday with a Fiscal Year 2011 plan of work for national checkoff funding that includes a total of 42 national checkoff programs from a slate of 48 that were proposed.

With an amended budget of $42.8 million, the committee approved funding of promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications programs to be managed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Meat Export Federation, American National CattleWomen, Meat Importers Council of America and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.  

After sometimes-difficult debate over which programs should take priority, the approved national checkoff programs for Fiscal Year 2011 include:

• About $18.1 million for promotion, including consumer advertising, retail marketing, foodservice marketing, new product and culinary initiatives; a Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative to build demand in densely populated Northeast states, and veal marketing and communications. 
• Nearly $6.7 million for research projects, focusing on a variety of critical issues, including beef safety research, product enhancement research, human nutrition research, and market research. This funding also included $784,400 for a life cycle assessment – or environmental profile – of U.S. beef production
• More than $4.6 million for consumer information programs, including a Northeast public relations initiative, national consumer public relations, preparations for the 2011 national Beef Cook-Off, and nutrition-influencer relations.
• About $3.3 million for industry information projects, comprising the National Beef Ambassador Program, beef and dairy-beef quality assurance programs and dissemination of accurate information about the beef industry to counter misinformation from anti-beef groups and others.
• More than $5.7 million for foreign marketing and education efforts about U.S. beef in the ASEAN region; the Caribbean; Central and South America; the Dominican Republic; Europe; the Middle East; China/Hong Kong; Japan; Mexico; Russia; South Korea; and Taiwan.
• A total of about $1.7 million in Beef Board dollars for producer communications, which includes producer outreach using paid media, earned media and communications through livestock markets.
• In addition to the program budget, other costs to operate the national checkoff program in Fiscal Year 2011 include $240,000 for evaluation of checkoff programs; $160,000 for program development; $263,000 for USDA oversight; and about $2 million for administration, which includes costs for all Board and committee meetings, as well as office rental, supplies and equipment, and salaries – the total of which is limited to not more than 5 percent of projected revenues.

The revised budget and plan of work still must be approved by the full Beef Board as well as USDA.

For more details, go to Press Release.

Day Two

The Operating Committee meeting is settling in again this morning, the day the difficult decisions have to be made. As the discussion moves forward, we’ll let you know what programs the committee members vote to fund with beef checkoff dollars in Fiscal Year 2011, which begins Oct. 1, 2010. Stay tuned.

Long Day, Tall On Ideas

From “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” consumer advertising to issues management and public relations efforts to maintain and improve the beef industry’s reputation in the consumer marketplace to foreign marketing promotions aimed at growing U.S. beef exports to producer communications that report back to beef producers and importers about their checkoff investments, the Beef Promotion Operating Committee heard it all today.

Beef industry organizations, including the American National CattleWomen, Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Meat Importers Council of America, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the U.S. Meat Export Federation, presented the committee with a total of 48 proposals to consider for beef checkoff funding in Fiscal Year 2011. Between today and tomorrow, the committee will discuss the pros and cons of each proposal and select those they wish to fund with a national budget of $40.6 million, of which $36.2 million is available for programming. Details of upcoming discussions and decisions will follow tomorrow.

Operating Committee Meeting Under Way

Jim Henger of NCBA presents a retail marketing proposal for checkoff funding in Fiscal Year 2011.

Cattle producers who serve on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee have begun their two-day meeting to identify programs to fund with national checkoff dollars in Fiscal Year 2011, which begins Oct. 1, 2010.

The Operating Committee comprises 10 members of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and 10 members of the Federation of State Beef Councils, who have gathered in Denver to consider presentations of 48 proposals for funding in the coming year. Out of the gate today, they have listened to presentations for funding of retail and public relations programs for the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, represented by the Meat Importers Council of America and state beef councils in the Northeast United States; producer communications efforts represented by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board; and foreign marketing promotion programs represented by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. 

Next on the agenda are presentations from the American National Cattlewomen, with three program proposals — “Telling the BEEF Story,” as well as the National Beef Cook-Off and the National Beef Ambassadors Program. Following that, representatives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association will present proposals in the areas of promotion, research, consumer information and industry information. Stay tuned.

Operating Committee Meets Sept. 20-21

The Beef Promotion Operating Committee will meet in Denver Sept. 20-21 to review 33 program proposals, or “Authorization Requests,” for checkoff funding in Fiscal 2011, which begins Oct. 1, 2010.

For an agenda or to review any of the Authorization Requests, visit THIS LINK.

Good News + Good People = Trust

The Beef Promotion Operating Committee is reviewing the top seven planning priorities as set forth for 2011. To recap, those priorities are (in order by ranking):
1. Educate influencers on beef and beef production
Rationale: Politically and socially motivated influencers are using food to drive social change. Protect beef and modern beef production and support access to international markets through effective information flow between the policy arena and public issues management; ensure that decision makers are supported with factual information.
2. Reconnect consumers with beef production
The rationale: A lack of understanding about the beef production system leads to increasingly skeptical consumers; communicate that beef is produced responsibly and inspire pride in America’s cattlemen.
3. Develop and expand international markets
Rationale: Global demand for beef and beef variety meats continues to grow. Develop and expand exports of high-quality U.S. beef in international markets by differentiating it from international competitors through the ongoing education of targeted decision makers.
4. Make beef an easy choice
Rationale: Choosing beef is not always easy for consumers or processors, manufacturers and marketers throughout the food chain. Make it easy for consumers and the food industry to choose beef by strengthening the value proposition with tasty, nutritious and convenient beef meal solutions.
5. Demonstrate beef’s value
Rationale: Position beef to compete in a changing marketplace where consumers are becoming more thoughtful in their purchase behavior, driven by increased frugality and the desire for a good value.
6. Implement cohesive safety solutions
Rationale: Competing voices and ongoing challenges have eroded consumers’ trust in the entire beef safety system. Facilitate government and industry engagement to achieve a common vision for, and implementation of, research-driven safety solutions.
7. Capitalize on the power of lean
Rationale: Lean protein is beef’s catalyst for improving nutrition perceptions which are known to be beef’s biggest barriers to consumption. Use the power “lean” and “protein” have with consumers to showcase beef’s nutrient advantage versus competing proteins.

The Committee will provide further direction on these priorities and fine-tune the strategic focus. The work done today leads into the May planning meetings in Denver where committee leadership will review the strategies, programs and resource allocations based on these priorities.

Wired In And Ready

Don Stewart, importer and member of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, was wired in this morning as the Committee reconvened in Denver. He and the 19 other Committee members heard from representatives from the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), contractor to the Beef Checkoff Program, who gave an update on market access in countries such as Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan. Demand outside the United States continues to grow as beef production wiithin our borders continues to decline. These market conditions translate to good news for beef prices. There also remains the opportunity to be a player in the global marketplace. The U.S. currently exports beef to approximately 80 countries.

Bo Reagan, senior vice president of the Research, Education and Innovations group for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), contractor to the Beef Checkoff Program, reported that the checkoff-funded Beef & Veal Culinary Center has moved to Denver, Colo., and employs six full-time culinarians and six additional part-time employees in charge of developing new recipes. The team has been busy creating 41 new consumer and foodservice recipes in the last three months.

Kim Essex, NCBA senior vice president of consumer marketing, and Jacque Matsen, NCBA executive director of issues management, gave the group an update on ag coalitions funded by the beef checkoff, including: the Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition, North American Meat Group/International Meat Secretariat Efforts on Red Meat & Cancer, Choline Coalition, National Meat Case Study, Protein Labeling Study, Nutrition Labeling Coalition, 2010 NAMP Meat Buyers Guide, Cross-Species FMD Communicators, Animal Agriculture Alliance, Joint Industry Coalition and Farmers Fighting Hunger.

As a reminder, Beef Promotion Operating Committee meetings are open to the public; the next meeting date is May 20, 2010 in Denver, Colo.

Beef Promotion Operating Committee Convenes In Denver

The Beef Promotion Operating Committee convened the afternoon of March 17 in Denver, Colo., and opened by welcoming the group’s newest members. The Committee was given an overview of procedures and rules, then moved into a review of the financials and how the checkoff’s budget is developed. The Committee also provided suggestions on how to improve the checkoff’s Evaluation Program.

The meeting will reconvene tomorrow morning and hear presentations from checkoff contractors USMEF and NCBA.

Future meeting dates:
May 20, 2010 – Denver, CO
September 20-21, Denver, CO

For more information about the programs funded by your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.

FY2010 Checkoff Plan of Work

It took plenty of debate over two long days, but the Operating Committee this week approved proposals for 30 checkoff programs to be funded with a $42.3 million Cattlemen’s Beef Board budget in Fiscal Year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009.

Revenue from checkoff assessments for the current year has come in a little higher than expected during the last several months, and the Beef Board spent $120,000 less in administration than it had budgeted for the year. That combined for a $695,000 addition to the program budget allocated this week – up from the $41.7 million budget the Beef Board approved in July.

Recognizing the importance of issues-management programs to counter misinformation about farmers and ranchers, beef, and the beef industry in the media, Operating Committee members increased the budget in that area by a total of $100,000, and also increased funding in the area of retail marketing by the same, based on the abillity to use that venue to help channel sales of middle meats. Another beneficiary of that increase was the National Beef Ambassador Program, which many of you will remember was not funded by the national checkoff program in the current year. On Wednesday, the Operating Committee approved funding that program at $70,000 for FY2010.

Contractors who successfully submitted proposals for checkoff funding in the coming year include the American National CattleWomen, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the Meat Importers Council of America, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

An overview of funding, by budget component, is as follows:
– $18.5 million for promotion, including advertising, retail and foodservice marketing, the National Beef Cook-Off, and veal marketing and communications.
– $6.2 million for research projects in the areas of beef safety, product enhancement, human nutrition, and market research.
– More than $4.8 million for consumer and nutrition-influencer public relations.
– About $3 million for indutry information projects, such as the National Beef Ambassador Program, beef and dairy-beef quality assurance programs, and issues management.
– Nearly $5.3 million for foreign marketing of U.S. beef around the globe.
– $1.8 million for producer communications, including paid media, direct communications with producers, beef and dairy earned media, communications through livestock markets, and an annual producer attitude survey.
– In addition to those program costs, the FY2010 Beef Board budget also allocates $220,000 for evaluation of checkoff programs; $130,000 for program development; $255,000 for USDA oversight; and $2.1 million for administration, which includes costs for all Board and committee meetings, as well as office rental, supplies and equipment, and salaries.

In addition to the Beef Board’s $42.3 million national budget, the Federation of State Beef Councils has allocated a separate $4.7 million to put toward national checkoff programs.

So the stage is set for another year of checkoff programming, though programs authorized by the Operating Committee still must be approved by USDA before any money can be spent.

Voting Begins

It’s been an exciting morning. Good discussion, great questions. Here are a few highlights from today’s Operating Committee voting:

The Executive Committee will now meet. Watch for complete 2010 budget information in future posts.

Discussions Resume

It’s a brand new day and the Operating Committee is revived, ready to delve in to another morning of discussion. Tensions are a little on the high side as budget concerns are weighing heavily on everyone’s minds.

Right now, there has been more money requested for checkoff programs than the budget allows for. The Committee will have to decide which programs will best help drive beef demand AND put money back in the producer’s pocket.

The Committee started out the day discussing the Northeast retail and foodservice marketing proposals and beef safety research. They will spend the next few hours discussing the other requests for funding that were “set aside” and then dive into the budgets attached to each program request.

Initially Approved

The Operating Committee has approved 17 requests for funding. Keep in mind, those requests for funding can be set aside for further discussion tomorrow. The Committee will revisit the remaining 20 funding requests, debate them, discuss them, and vote on them.

Promotion Update

The afternoon presentations concluded with reports from the checkoff’s Promotion program area.

Here are some highlights and suggestions for proposed 2010 funding:

The presentations from each program area are officially over.

The Operating Committee also received an evaluation update from Dave Bateman and will now move on to action on the 2010 requests for funding.

Mid-Way Point

The day is dwindling on and with so many great programs, it’s going to be a tough task to decide which ones merit checkoff funding for Fiscal Year 2010. The committee has now moved on to hear from the checkoff’s primary contractor, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. First up, the Research and Industry Information program areas.

Here are a few highlights from the Research presentations:
- More emphasis will be placed on the checkoff’s involvement with and relationships within BIFSCo (Beef Industry Food Safety Council) and opportunities to host regional meetings to present key findings from the Beef Industry Safety Summit.
- The National Beef Tenderness Survey is slated to be conducted in 2010. It’s the industry tenderness “report card” at foodservice and retail.
- Fund research aimed at associating beef with a healthy lifestyle, then distribute that knowledge to the nutrition researcher community.
- Provide ongoing tracking of consumer attitudes and usage of beef as well as the Consumer Beef Index.

Note: these programs/tactics will commence only if the request for funding is approved by the committee.

Here are a few highlights from the Industry Information presentations:
- Create a national BQA cow/calf -stocker-seedstock producers manual
- Crisis Planning: Maintain critical relationships to help facilitate an immediate, consistent industry response to an FMD outbreak or other crisis scenario.

Still to come this afternoon: public relations, consumer advertising, foodservice and retail marketing and new products. Stay tuned!

Ahead Of Schedule

Reporting from the Operating Committee and happy to say the group is ahead of schedule. You can see the wheels turning as committee members mull through pages of great funding requests, all-the-while, knowing that budgets are slightly down and they have a daunting task ahead of them to choose which programs to fund for 2010 in an effort to judiciously spend producer checkoff investments in areas where it can have the most impact on beef demand.

As you may remember, last year, cuts in program budgets were spread across various categories to minimize the overall effect of the budget reduction. Some deeper cuts were required, however, with the hardest hits in funding for producer communications, including the Beefmobile; youth education; and the Beef Ambassador Program.

The Beef Ambassador Program has once again come to the table with a request for funding; the National Beef Cook-Off has requested funding for 2009 post-event promotion and 2011 event planning (location to be determined); and, MICA has proposed funding for northeast and North Virginia public relations, retail marketing and foodservice programs.

As a reminder, the job of the Operating Committee is to listen to each program presentation and ask questions for clarification — the debate, discussion and voting will come later.

Off To A Good Start

The Operating Committee is off to a good start with Lynn Heinze presenting the Producer Communications program area request for funding and Thad Lively presenting all areas of the Foreign Marketing program area. The schedule and procedures allow for the committee to unanimously approve the funding as submitted or “set them aside” for further discussion later today. Up next on the schedule will be the National Beef Ambassador Program and National Beef Cook-Off, followed by the three program areas managed by the Meat Importers Council of America (MICA).

Operating Committee Convenes

This morning, the Beef Promotion Operating Committee convened in Denver, Colo., to hear presentations from each checkoff program area about 2010 funding requests. The meeting opened with an invocation from past Cattlemen’s Beef Board chairman Dave Bateman. The committee has a long day ahead of them, many tough decisions to be made, and budgets are tight with more than 35 program areas presenting over the next day and a half.

Here’s the meeting agenda for the week.

Stay tuned to the blog for updates from the meeting.

Operating Committee To Decide On Checkoff Programs

Another checkoff fiscal year is just around the bend, so we’ve got a lot of work to get done here in the next couple of weeks, particularly those producers who serve on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee or the CBB Executive Committee. On Sept. 15-16, the Operating Committee will meet in Denver to review and approve Authorization Requests (ARs) to fund program activities with national checkoff dollars in Fiscal Year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009. Members of the Executive Committee will observe this meeting and then follow immediately with an Executive Committee meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 16.

We will have some good news and some bad news to discuss at the Operating Committee meeting. The good news is that actual revenues for the current year should come in a bit higher than our revised projections, and revenues for the coming year are still expected to be on target. The bad news is that our CBB budget for 2010 is nearly 22 percent below our budget of Fiscal Year 2007. The Operating Committee will have its work cut out for it to ensure we maintain a strong, diversified program of promotion, research and information.

This year, we will receive presentations from contractors of 37 ARs with requested CBB funding of more than $40.3 million, which is $1.4 million more than the available budget at this time. We will have some additional funds available as a result of surplus revenues for 2009 and unspent administration expenses, but we’ll still have a lot of tough decisions to make. 

Links to the agendas for the Operating and Executive committee meetings are below, and please come back to this site during and after the meetings, as we’ll be posting reports from the meetings right here.

Tom Jones
CBB Secretary/Treasurer
Pottsville, AR

• Sept. 15-16 Beef Promotion Operating Committee MEETING AGENDA
• Sept. 16 CBB Executive Committee MEETING AGENDA

Checkoff Budget Recommendation

At the end of a long three days of planning meetings, the Beef Promotion Operating Committee on May 14 recommended a $41.5 million national beef checkoff budget for Fiscal Year 2010, and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board Executive Committee ratified the recommendation. The budget is based on a recommendation earlier in the day from the industry’s Joint Budget Committee, which based its recommendation on projected checkoff revenue for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2009. Pictures are Beef Board Chariman Lucinda Williams and Secretary/Treasurer Tom Jones.

The budget recommendation must be approved by the full Beef Board and USDA before it is official. The Board vote will take place at the 2009 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in July and, if approved, heads to USDA. At this point, the budget recommendation is broken down by components including promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing, producer communications, evaluation, administration, USDA oversight, and program development. It does not, however, include specific program proposals for the year, as that will be determined based on proposals that national beef organizations will present to the Operating Committee in September.As recommended by the three committees this week, the bulk of the national beef checkoff budget for FY2010 - about $39.5 million – would be invested in checkoff programs, as follows:

• $18.1 million for promotion, including things such as advertising, foodservice, retail and veal promotion, and new-product development.
• $6.2 million for research programs, including beef safety, product enhancement, nutrition research, and market research.
• $4.7 million for consumer-information programs, which includes consumer public relations, youth education and information, and nutrition influencers outreach.
• $2.9 million for industry-information programs, including beef and veal quality assurance and issues management.
• $5.3 million for foreign marketing, including promotion programs across the globe.
• $1.8 million for producer communications, including trade advertising, media relations, and direct communications to producers about the results of their checkoff investments.

In addition to the program budget, additional costs include $220,000 for evaluation of checkoff programs; $130,000 for program development; $255,000 for USDA oversight; and $2 million for administration, which includes costs for all Board and committee meetings, as well as office rental, supplies and equipment, and salaries.

Checkoff Planning Meetings Under Way

State and national beef checkoff representatives are in Denver this week to recommend a budget for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009, and to begin making program plans for the coming year.

State Beef Council execs are meeting with representatives of the Federation Division of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) to discuss Federation planning efforts today. Beginning tomorrow, May 13, producers who volunteer service on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and Federation of State Beef Councils board in chairman and vice chairman capacities on joint checkoff committees will meet to discuss planning priorities set by committees at the 2009 Cattle Industry Annual Convention. They will discuss the current market environment and its implications for the beef industry and will, in the end, direct checkoff staff as to how to prioritize programming requests before submitting proposals for FY2010 funding to the joint committees at the summer conference in July.

On Thursday morning, May 14, the Joint Budget Committee will develop a checkoff budget for FY2010, based on estimated revenues from the Beef Board and the Federation and will review program and operating budget expenses for the current year.  That committee will then establish a budget recommendation for allocation of checkoff funds by budget component, which will be forwarded to the Beef Promotion Operating Committee for its consideration. The Operating Committee will review the budget committee’s recommendation on Thursday afternoon, then forward that recommendation to the full Beef Board for consideration at the 2009 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver July 14-18.

Also this week in Denver, the Beef Board Executive Committee will hold a meeting on Thursday afternoon to review the Operating Committee report, as well as state marketing plans, state audit reports, brand and trade name references, producer communications efforts, and the latest financial report for the national program.

For a copy of the Operating Committee agenda, click HERE, and for the Executive Committee agenda, click HERE.