Checkoff Legal Battle May Expand to 13 New States

The beef checkoff faces new challenges in 13 states as opponents have expanded their legal campaign following a Montana injunction last year. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) has asked District Court Judge Brian Morris, Great Falls, MT, to expand the injunction to include checkoff funds in Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin. The current injunction against the checkoff was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in April, and only applies to Montana. Under the injunction, the $1 beef checkoff is still collected, and the money is sent to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Montana ranchers who wish for half of their dollar to go to the Montana Beef Council must complete a producer consent form, and the CBB then sends the money back to Montana. Montana Beef Council executive director Chaley Harney told Drovers the injunction has dramatically reduced the organization’s revenue this year. “We expected $1.7 million to be collected by the checkoff (in Montana),” Harney said. “Half of that, or about $850,000, would stay in Montana. Since the injunction we’ve received less than $200,000.” R-CALF and other opponents to the beef checkoff say they object to their money being used to “fund private speech with which they disagree and cannot influence.” In a statement, R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says the “checkoff program has weakened the U.S. cattle industry,” and that his group’s objective is to stop “USDA from forcing (producers in the additional 13 states) to fund private speech that undermines their financial and economic interests.” The national Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), however, says it is fully committed to the Beef Checkoff Program and the “state beef councils who carry out necessary demand-building programs on behalf of the industry.”...MORE