State beef checkoff could yield up to $1.5 million more a year for promotion, education

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed a bill into law last week allowing beef producers to decide whether they want a state beef checkoff that would give beef promoters an extra 50 cents per head of Iowa cattle sold.

Beef industry officials say they need the extra money, which they estimate at up to $1.5 million a year, to research beef production and educate the public about the benefits of the industry.

Beef also is competing with chicken and pork for consumers, said Justine Stevenson, director of government relations and public policy for the Iowa Cattlemen's Association.

Per capita beef consumption dropped from 84 pounds in 1976 to 51 pounds in 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service reported. Over the same time, chicken increased from 27 pounds per person to 55 pounds.

'A lot of consumers are conscious of costs,” Stevenson said. 'The economy plays into that.”

Since 1985, $1 from the sale of each cow raised in Iowa went to the Iowa Beef Industry Council, which split the money with the national Cattlemen's Beef Board. The national Beef Checkoff brought in $41.8 million in fiscal 2015, with $20.9 million divided among 43 state beef councils, according to the board's 2015 annual report.

Iowa House File 2269, which had unanimous support in the Iowa House and Senate, allows producers to vote on whether they want to increase the state assessment from 50 cents to up to $1. The Iowa beef checkoff money would be used to promote Iowa's cattle industry, research beef production, evaluate Iowa beef production needs and provide educational materials and opportunities about the benefits of Iowa's beef industry, the bill states.

Beef producers who oppose the checkoff or don't like how the money is being spent can seek a refund of the Iowa portion - which hasn't been allowed since 1984. The 50 cents going to the national group is mandatory and would not be refunded.

Jana Linderman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, said the refund option is an improvement, but 'it is easier and preferable for individual producers to simply opt out of the program up front rather than having to ask for their money back after paying it in.”

She'd like to see the state checkoff have an expiration date requiring periodic reauthorization by producers and wants to ban checkoff funds from going to groups that lobby.

Marvin Shirley, 78, a beef producer near Minburn, has opposed the national beef checkoff in the past because money has gone to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a Denver, Colo.-based not-for-profit that tries to grow consumer demand for beef and increase profit for producers.

The NCBA lobbied against country-of-origin labeling, a 2009 requirement that meatpackers label meat with where cattle were born. Some farmers, including Shirley, support labeling because they believe consumers prefer buying meat raised in the United States.

NCBA leaders told The Gazette in 2014 they do not use checkoff funds for lobbying, but Shirley and other beef producers said they still did not want their money going to the group.

Shirley feels better about the state checkoff.

'If producers vote on it, we need to be sure it goes to the (Iowa Cattlemen's Association) and not some outside group,” he said Monday.

A petition of 500 beef producers can bring the beef checkoff to referendum. A majority vote of producers is needed for passage. Stevenson said she's uncertain how long it would take for the state checkoff to go into effect.