The committee approved a comprehensive beef checkoff plan of work at the annual budget approval meeting. The plan will fund promotion, research and information programs in fiscal 2007 and is designed to build demand for beef using the checkoff funds remitted to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.

After a day and a half of presentation and discussion, the Operating Committee – 10 producer members of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and 10 producer representatives from the Federation of State Beef Councils – balanced the industry’s requests for funding against anticipated checkoff collections for 2007. The result is a producer-selected menu of checkoff activities that the committee believes will create the best opportunities for cattle producers in the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2006. The plan still must be approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture before any funds can be expended.

Contractors with program proposals included in the plan are the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), the American National CattleWomen (ANCW), the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the Meat Importers Council of America (MICA), the National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA) and the American Veal Association (AVA).

Source: Cattlemens Beef Board