Columbia, MO (AgNewsWire) Missouri beef industry leaders are pleased with results from a nationwide survey released last week that shows continued support for the $1 per head national Beef Checkoff.
According to Missouri Beef Industry Council chairman Andrew McCrea, a cattleman from Maysville, the results are proof that most producers have positive views about the checkoff which began in 1986.
“The survey shows what we’ve continued to see from surveys over time, that an overwhelming majority of beef producers do support the checkoff,” said McCrea.
The survey, which was conducted in response to a settlement agreement between Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the Livestock Marketing Association as a result of a May 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, found that 72 percent of approve of the Beef Checkoff Program.
The survey also found that 82 percent are in favor of voting periodically on the continuation of the Beef Checkoff Program, something McCrea says would make sure those who implement the program are doing the job producers want them to do.
“It helps us gauge where beef producers are at. We have to be responsive to beef producers and it’s important for beef producers to know that the folks on that board are cattle producers just like them,” he said.
One of the most interesting and strongest findings of the survey was that 92 percent of respondents who would like to see “all or at least some portion of the Beef Checkoff dollars should be used to promote only U.S. born and raised beef.”