From Washington with Karina Jones is brought to you by BillionAuto.com one of the nation’s largest automotive websites!
Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills, Field Director for R-CalfUSA and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
And now the NEW VOICE of Farm & Ranch Country, Karina Jones –
Hello everyone out there in farm and ranch country! According to the National Agriculture Law Center, “the USDA oversees 21 commodity checkoff programs, also referred to as research and promotion programs. They are intended to promote and provide research and information for a particular agricultural commodity without reference to specific producers or brands. The term “checkoff” is derived from historical programs that were not mandatory; producers marked a checkoff box if they wished to contribute to the program. The programs have evolved to now include mandatory programs that do not have such forms, but the name has remained. Producers and handlers usually finance these programs from assessments charged on a per unit basis of the marketed commodity. While these programs have basic similarities, they can differ considerably in terms of legal and regulatory boundaries, administration, and operation.”
From beef to blueberries and corn to Christmas trees, these Checkoff programs have drawn a litany of scrutiny over the years from ag producers. But now a group of lawmakers that is as diverse on the political spectrum as the array of checkoff programs USDA oversees has banded together to introduce legislation that would modernize these Checkoff programs to better serve the needs and expectations of the ag producers who forced to fund them.
The Opportunities in Fairness and Farming Act, or the OFF Act, was introduced in a bi-partisan, bi-cameral move this week in Congress.
This OFF Act would institute a series of oversight measures to ensure transparency and accountability for check-off boards. It would prohibit check-off boards from entering into contracts to carry out check-off activities with parties that also work to influence government policy and exempts institutions of higher education. It prohibits board members and employees of check-off programs from engaging in any act that may involve a conflict of interest. It prohibits engagement in anticompetitive activity, deceptive practices, or disparaging practices. It would require that contracts entered into by the board be recorded to describe goods and services provided/costs incurred. It would require check-off boards to publicize a transparent budget and periodic audits of check-off boards by the Inspector General of USDA and by the Comptroller General.
If checkoff programs are truly for the research and marketing of the commodity in question, the OFF Act will put the money into the hands of researchers and marketers, taking lobbying organizations out of the middle and no longer taking their cut. It will also provide greater transparency to the sheep producers, the soybean farmers, and the other 19 commodity ag producers who are forced to support this mandatory tax.
Every penny, dime, and dollar in rural America is of a premium right now under these high input cost conditions. It is high time to make sure that those programs we are forced to fund are taking the utmost care of our investment and are accountable to us. Afterall, these checkoff programs belong to every ag producer, not to any organizations.
Join me next week, right here on this great American radio station.
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Broken Bow, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Tune in Fridays on The Hot Barn Report, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and highlights industry reforms or listen to Ranch Raised with Karina Jones a slice of daily life on the Jones Ranch.
