Charles Bassett wants you to buy hamburgers made from his Missouri cows. That鈥檚 why the Missouri rancher wants to pay an extra dollar into an industry-created fund every time he sells one of his cattle.
The fund is called a checkoff program 鈥� an industry-administered pool of money that is collected from producers for promotion, research and marketing of a particular commodity, which functions similar to a tax. If the money would be spent by a designated group (likely the Missouri Beef Council) on promoting Missouri beef.
鈥淢e, myself, as an individual producer, as hard as I work and do the best job I can do, I don鈥檛 have time to leave my operation and promote my product,鈥� Basset said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 have (the time).鈥�
Bassett, like all U.S. beef producers, already pays for a federal checkoff, which is responsible for the famous beef commercial with the slogan 鈥�.鈥�
The federal Beef Checkoff program is controversial, however. and some feel their money isn鈥檛 always directed to the right place. State organizations that would add to the beef industry鈥檚 bureaucracy have taken the checkoff debate out of Washington D.C. and brought it closer to home.
The federal checkoff funds, Bassett said, just don鈥檛 go far enough anymore to promote his beef, but adding a state checkoff would help.
鈥淏y pooling my resources with other producers in Missouri, we鈥檙e able to have a full-time staff working for us every day, promoting our product,鈥� he said.
In all, fourteen states, including Illinois, already have their own state checkoff on the books. Ranchers in Missouri, and Oklahoma are eying the option, too.
added a state beef checkoff in 2015.
鈥淲e want to stay competitive with our consumers and against our competing protein products out there,鈥� said Nancy Jo Bateman, the executive director for the North Dakota Beef Commission, which is in charge of the checkoff money.
鈥淲hat the beef industry has seen over the last 30 some years since the national checkoff started, our buying power for programs that help to increase demand for beef has been shrinking dramatically,鈥� she said.
With state checkoff money, the commission bought up primetime TV space. In North Dakota, that means the airtime around state high school basketball tournaments.
鈥淲e have implemented television advertising during those tournaments and we鈥檝e had tremendous feedback from both our producer base that their dollars are paying for this, as well as consumers who say they are just excited to see delicious looking beef,鈥� Bateman said.
These ads are more important than ever, according to many beef producers, because Americans are buying a lot more chicken. To combat that, many cattle ranchers want the checkoff funds to go toward studying the health benefits of beef and how to lower production costs.
Checkoff opponents, though, want more local control.
鈥淭here are concerns often by state level groups that the national organization may not being doing what would benefit that state the most,鈥� said Gary Williams, a professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. 鈥淭hen they鈥檒l add a state checkoff.鈥�
Williams said decades of research suggests checkoff programs can be slightly effective, but there are so many other variables that affect demand.
鈥淔oreign demand, oil problems, and wars and weather, all these other things have a whole lot more effect on demand than promotion does,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a statistically significant impact but it鈥檚 relatively small.鈥�
Ranchers in California decided against adding a state checkoff in 2012. Now, some beef producers are lining up against adding required contributions.
Roger Allison, a rancher in Howard County, Missouri, falls in line with the opposition. He said the federal checkoff hasn鈥檛 really helped him, so why would the state鈥檚 version?
鈥淚n the state of Missouri, we've lost over 40 percent of the cattle producers in this state since that period of time,鈥� he said. 鈥淐onsumer demand 鈥� they still say they鈥檙e going to increase, it dropped by 31 percent.鈥�
Another reason ranchers oppose a state checkoff, Allison said, is that it鈥檚 a venue for large, commercial operations to control promotion at the expense of small farmers.
鈥淥nce they get the money, all of a sudden they feel like they got the control over beef producers in this state,鈥� he said.
Ultimately, Missouri farmers will vote in April on whether to add the checkoff. What they decide will help shape the beef industry鈥檚 modern evolution.
