The Ninth Circuit dealt a blow to the USDA’s Beef Checkoff program Monday. The court upheld a lower court ruling and said the USDA can’t tax ranchers a dollar for each cow they sell and give that money to private state beef councils to run ads that those ranchers may disagree with:
“Today’s ruling ensures that for the first time in over three decades Independent Montana cattle producers have a choice as to whether to continue funding a private message that essentially says that beef is beef regardless of where the cattle from which the beef was derived was born or raised. That generic message is contrary to the interests of Montana ranchers who want to capitalize on the superior beef products that are produced from their high quality, USA-produced cattle,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
The Montana Beef Council promotes the message that there is no difference between domestic beef produced under U.S. food safety laws and beef produced in foreign countries. It has paid for advertisements for the fast-food chain Wendy’s, for example, to promote hamburgers that use North American beef, meaning beef that can come from anywhere on the continent, but not necessarily Montana or even the United States [R-CALF, press release via Dakota Radio Group, 2018.04.10].
The USDA collects checkoff dollars for beef, eggs, dairy, and a variety of other agricultural products. By ruling that the beef checkoff program constitutes compelled speech, the Ninth Circuit appears to open the door for other producers to demand more say in how their dollars are spent to promote their product… or maybe just to keep their dollars in their pocket to do their own marketing.
I have long contended the Beef Checkoff is a way for private industry (the big three beef packers) to get someone else to pay for their advertising. The big packers have been riding this scam for 30+ years, nice gig if you can get it.
I think this is really going to roil farming because I’m pretty sure there are other commodity check off programs.
BTW Nick, a lot of farmers and ranchers agree with your point, as you probably know.
ALL RIGHT!!! These people have done nothing for US beef! The SOB’s that are trying to tell us we can’t have COOL labeling on beef can’t tell us that we can’t label it as being from a certain state and if they do they can’t tell us that we can’t say that it is from a certain farm! The “One World” free traders might not get their way yet!