ND Stockmen's Association seeking increase in $1 beef checkoff

The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association plans to ask the 2015 Legislature to double the $1-per-head checkoff that ranchers pay when they sell cattle. The national beef checkoff, which is used to fund beef research, education and promotion, hasn’t changed for nearly three decades, prompting seven states to increase it at the state level in recent years. Chairmen of the House and Senate agriculture committees say that for North Dakota to become the eighth, the Stockmen’s will need to show that an increase is necessary. Lawmakers “have always been a little reluctant to increase fees unless justified,” said Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Devils Lake, a grain farmer and former rancher. “Whenever we talk about checkoff increases, there’s always going to be a good hearing as to why it’s needed. If they can justify it - if their members want it - they’ll probably get the support.” Sen. Joe Miller, R-Park River, also a farmer, didn’t speculate about possible support among lawmakers but said Stockmen’s leaders will need to “properly lay out their reasoning,” and that the proposal will be “thoroughly examined and properly scrutinized.” Congress authorized the national beef checkoff program at the dollar-per-head level in 1985. The North Dakota Beef Commission is required to forward half of the money collected from ranchers in the state to a national beef board. The other half can be used in-state or for national efforts. The amount spent in-state varies from year to year, according to Stockmen’s Executive Vice President Julie Ellingson. “Because of lower cattle numbers in the country and the inflation factor, the estimate is that the $1 checkoff has only 47 cents of the buying power it had in 1985,” Ellingson said. “We have less dollars in the pool to make those investments” in bolstering beef production and consumption. Under the Stockmen’s proposal, half of the $2 checkoff for every animal sold would go to the national board and the other half would stay with the state Beef Commission. Ranchers would have the option of asking for the second dollar to be refunded - effectively making participation in the checkoff increase voluntary...more