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Checkoff Petition

mrj

Well-known member
OT, you forgot to mention that part of USCA's plan for the checkoff, according to Jim Hanna, is "to separate NCBA from checkoff funds"? That statement proves that he either does not understand, or does not admit that NCBA has NO control of Beef Checkoff funds.

NCBA has to BID for contractual work to be executed for the CBB, just like the several other entities doing such contractual work for/with Beef Checkoff dollars.

There are NO checkoff dollars going to policy issues or funding lobbying of the dues division of NCBA....period! I state this because it is a familiar, frequent accusation and was used as the basis for inciting "grass roots producers" to join R-CALF, in SD and MT, at least.

The Australian checkoff, some $162Million annually, including government money and processor money, is used to advertise ONLY exported beef, none advertises within the country.

OT, it is sad that your cult has their heads so far.....I mean are so beholden to the auction markets.....your major source of funding, auction owner/R-CALF directors prominently running the outfit, etc. that you apparently fail to think at all on your own.

Otherwise you would know it is common sense to advertise beef generically. Or would you rather it be pro-rated according to which states contribute the most money to the checkoff nationally? That would leave quite a lot to advertise "SD Produced Beef" and so on. Of course, we STILL don't have enough packing plants in-state handle all beef enrolled in the "SD PRODUCE BEEF" program we have, so that may be problematic for a time. Texas, Kansas, Nebraska all produce quite a bit of beef, so maybe.... say the top eight beef producing states, could get together and control the whole thing. Leave MT for the tourists, kooks and nuts and/or
R-CALF and R-CALF, kinder, gentler div. (aka USCA).

Sandhusker, You just can't avoid the FACT that about 95% of beef sold at retail IS produced in the USA. And that when the sky actually does start to fall, NCBA and other checkoff contractors will have a plan ready to deal with it.....just as their plans and actions prevented BSE from being a total disaster as in England.

Red Robin, thanks for beine a voice of reason and GOOD sense! The fact is that those guys fail to believe or understand that the beef checkoff already DOES advertise US beef, since that 95% (which most checkoff advertising targets) IS product of the USA. And that advertsing includes the importers checkoff dollars, too. As well as no small amount of packer and retailer dollars!

OT, good to see you, AT LAST, admit there are benefits to checkoff spending and that the new cuts and e coli research have benefitted producers!

Sandhusker, it sure would set the industry back if we get into a spitting contest, using checkoff dollars advertising SD produced calves against MT produced, or GA, or TX produced calves, for instance, to fit your demands to advertise "what WE make a profit on"!

Tex, it is very possible packers 'pay' more into checkoff projects than you would believe. I do know that on cooperative projects between restaurants and beef checkoff, the checkoff dollar is leveraged well, with the business paying many times what the checkoff dollars are going into such projects. For you alone, that is verifiable. Check with the CBB for specifics.

Maybe you boys should open your eyes to the fact that there are so many groups trying to end beef production in the USA that if we don't unite the cattle industry to keep us strong, we will go down far faster than from the phantom "invasion" of imported beef. Check our the current issue of Top Producer magazine.

mrj
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Tommy said:
Oldtimer...So you think the imports should have a free pass and not pay any checkoff- or we should give it back-- or should we (the US Beef Checkoff) go into the business of advertising specific foreign products

Not what I meant Oldtimer. I mean that by them paying into our checkoff, we cannot advertise USA beef. What I want is for the checkoff to be able to advertise USA beef here in the USA.

And thats just another NCBA promoted BS story to keep from advertising US Beef ...Yes Canada and other foreign countries have threatened suit if their checkoff money is used to advertise/promote USA Beef- but where the checkoff dollar comes from is a carefully audited figure (since certain amounts go back and forth to the states)-- and it would take nothing to isolate off the amount coming from the imports- and use that only for generic advertisements or beef development- leaving nothing challengeable to litigate....
I talked to Monte Reese about it, before he left, and he said isolating off the import derived amount of the Checkoff would be easy...

I'd just as soon see the foreigners have to "pay to play" also.....
 

Tommy

Well-known member
Oldtimer... talked to Monte Reese about it, before he left, and he said isolating off the import derived amount of the Checkoff would be easy...

I'd just as soon see the foreigners have to "pay to play" also.....


Then we are in agreement Oldtimer. I have no problem at all with that.
 

Tommy

Well-known member
mj...OT, you forgot to mention that part of USCA's plan for the checkoff, according to Jim Hanna, is "to separate NCBA from checkoff funds"? That statement proves that he either does not understand, or does not admit that NCBA has NO control of Beef Checkoff funds.


Was he saying to separate the NCBA from checkoff funds, OR remove the NCBA name from the checkoff ad? Big difference mj.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
MRJ, "Sandhusker, You just can't avoid the FACT that about 95% of beef sold at retail IS produced in the USA. And that when the sky actually does start to fall, NCBA and other checkoff contractors will have a plan ready to deal with it.....just as their plans and actions prevented BSE from being a total disaster as in England."

NCBA has a plan? I don't believe that for a second. What is it? Ben asked them about the threat of South American beef and their only reply was "We beleive in free trade". They don't have a plan, they don't even have a clue.

MRJ, "Red Robin, thanks for beine a voice of reason and GOOD sense! The fact is that those guys fail to believe or understand that the beef checkoff already DOES advertise US beef, since that 95% (which most checkoff advertising targets) IS product of the USA. And that advertsing includes the importers checkoff dollars, too. As well as no small amount of packer and retailer dollars!"

It's good sense to not study where the industry is going and then position ourselves accordingly? :shock: Have you ever heard of long-range business planning? Tell me, MRJ, why do you put up hay in June when there is green grass for the cows to eat? Why would somebody put fly tags on their calves in May when there isn't hardly any flies at all? Do you have any idea on what Brazil has said regarding supplying our markets? Have you ever heard of the USDA's plans regarding FMD in Argentina? What about the notion of a free trade agreement with South America? Why don't you ask your leaders in NCBA what the plan is when South America gets unlimited access to our markets. Ask them and then, based on their answer, ask yourself if they are looking out for YOUR profitablity.

MRJ, "Sandhusker, it sure would set the industry back if we get into a spitting contest, using checkoff dollars advertising SD produced calves against MT produced, or GA, or TX produced calves, for instance, to fit your demands to advertise "what WE make a profit on"! "

Where did you come up with that? Nobody has advocated any such thing.
 

Tex

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Tommy said:
Oldtimer...So you think the imports should have a free pass and not pay any checkoff- or we should give it back-- or should we (the US Beef Checkoff) go into the business of advertising specific foreign products

Not what I meant Oldtimer. I mean that by them paying into our checkoff, we cannot advertise USA beef. What I want is for the checkoff to be able to advertise USA beef here in the USA.

And thats just another NCBA promoted BS story to keep from advertising US Beef ...Yes Canada and other foreign countries have threatened suit if their checkoff money is used to advertise/promote USA Beef- but where the checkoff dollar comes from is a carefully audited figure (since certain amounts go back and forth to the states)-- and it would take nothing to isolate off the amount coming from the imports- and use that only for generic advertisements or beef development- leaving nothing challengeable to litigate....
I talked to Monte Reese about it, before he left, and he said isolating off the import derived amount of the Checkoff would be easy...

I'd just as soon see the foreigners have to "pay to play" also.....

The move to COOL type laws has come on the heels of national policies that have favored large international businesses who have profited by selling cheaper foreign goods here in the U.S. without all the same safety mechanisms the U.S. has developed to prevent fraud or unsafe products as well as social policies. In this way, big corporations have used trade to arbitrage the basic food safety and social systems set up in the U.S. with countries who do not have these systems. You all know the food safety systems but what about the social systems I speak of?

Mexico has no social security system. They have a very small elite who gather most of the wealth of the country even to the extent that the wealthiest person in the world is from Mexico. Their labor and population has been suppressed by a political system that favors the very rich. The difference between Mexico and the U.S. is so large as far as opportunities for earning enough money to have a real life that many Mexicans risk their lives to come over to the U.S. to earn even the lowest wages on our wage scale. This creates a large illegal immigrant population that is actually used by industry (especially meat packing) to reduce wages paid (which depresses domestic wages) and increase their own profitability. People are tired of it.

The real answer to the illegal alien population is to have a trade policy that promotes a more just and sustainable population in Mexico where they wouldn't want to come into the U.S. because they can realize their dreams in Mexico. Instead of this approach, and tying trade to advances in this area, we have decided to allow the Mexican elite and U.S. corporations to use Mexican labor in Mexico without paying Social Security taxes, and a decent wage, and sell those products in the U.S. The elite, in other words, are arbitraging the differences between the country's social advancement and trading off the gains in that respect of the U.S. citizen.

This has nothing to do with real reasons for trade--comparative advantage, but everything to do with elite advantage.

The same could be said for China. In the case of China, almost all of the businesses are owned by the communist party elite. They use their power to suppress things like free speech (look at the embarrassing Yahoo deal), political freedom, and democracy. All the while, U.S. businesses are using these differences to become richer while shafting U.S. citizens. Walmart makes the argument that price is the only thing we should be worried about as that is what citizens are worried about, but if that were the case, why worry about democracy and freedom? The reason we worry about democracy and freedom and free speech is so we will not have an elite that constantly takes the profits of commerce for themselves only. We can make changes if that seems to be the result (as it is today) through talking about it, ascertaining the facts and writing about them, and then voting for people who will adapt the changes necessary to social policy.

We should be able to do the same things when it comes to checkoff dollars.

When the NCBA did not adapt their 11 points the members wanted and instead made changes that would benefit the packers over producers, it showed its colors. Then to compound the problem by actually lying to their members over political policy changes, shows that NCBA is nothing more than a captured organization by the elite-- in this case the packers. It is nothing new to the packers as Tyson and others have done the same thing for a long time in the poultry associations in the individual states where they claim to state politicians that they represent growers, have the assets to have people lobby the legislators, and then push policies that allow them to control and profit off of producers.

Tyson has the political economists that can figure these things out and either a corrupt or incompetent leadership at NCBA that tells all the people like mrj a bunch of lies to continue their cheating policies.

The beef checkoff should be able to take on poultry and pork as well as food from other countries, no matter if Tyson owns substantial positions in those other commodities. Right now people like mrj are scared to do that. You have to get food safety down first then go after the perception of the value of beef as RM suggests. Where does the checkoff do that?

COOL is a first step, but it is still a baby step. Checkoff dollars should be used to promote the product that is being "taxed" with the checkoff. That means promotion against foreign socially subsidized beef in some cases and also pork and chicken. It doesn't mean checkoff dollars should be used to promote packer efficiency. Packers should compete for that. If checkoff dollars are used to find out value in flat iron steaks, they shouldn't let a packer use that same technology in Argentina without paying the checkoff back for their investment.

Packers should be held accountable when they break the law in regards to hiring illegals (the justice department of the U.S. has actually protected them instead of prosecuting them). They should also be held accountable possibly with U.S. checkoff dollars if the USDA wants to continue to spend dollars on things like NAIS instead of enforcing existing law, from selling foreign beef as U.S. beef thereby arbitraging the differences most Americans now recognize as huge deficiencies in our trade policy.

COOL will make no difference if it isn't enforced.
 

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