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The USDA is finding themselves in hot water again over their handling of commodity checkoff funds. After a large coalition of industry groups called them out for not reporting the dairy checkoff audits in a timely fashion, as according to the law they are supposed to be reported to US dairy farmers annually, now some lawmakers are raising the same question.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and from both houses of Congress sent a letter to US Secretary of Ag, Tom Vilsack, last week.
U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Mike Lee (R-UT) expressed concern in a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its failure to publish annual reports to Congress on its dairy checkoff programs and urged the Department to take immediate action.
Federal law – enacted by the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 — mandates that the USDA submit annual reports on the dairy checkoff to Congress. The reports need to detail the activities conducted, account for the receipt and disbursement of funds, and include an independent analysis of the effectiveness of the dairy checkoff program. However, the USDA has not provided reports for 2021 and 2022, and only published 2020’s report last week, hours after receiving Booker and Lee’s letter.
“We write to express deep concern regarding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ongoing failure to publish annual reports to Congress on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Program and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program,” wrote Senators Booker and Lee to USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack.
Further, Senators Booker and Lee raised concerns about the lack of transparency in how dairy producer’s dollars are spent since the last report was submitted to Congress.
“America’s dairy farmers have paid nearly $1 billion in mandatory checkoff fees [since 2019] to the National Dairy Promotion and Research Program. At the same time, we have witnessed the loss of more than 6,000 dairy operations across our rural communities. The time is now for your Department to disclose how these dollars were spent and evaluate the effectiveness of those efforts,” continued the Senators.
Senators Booker and Lee concluded the letter by requesting the release of the outstanding reports. They also requested a written justification by September 29, 2023 if the USDA continues to fail to publish these reports.
The letter is cosigned by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA); and a bi-partisan group of US Representatives including Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who is a cattle producer himself.
The commodity checkoff system has been alleged to be ripe with corruption, lack of transparency and misuse of funds for decades. The USDA is entangled in a court battle with the cattle producers group, R-CALF USA, in the District of Columbia district court over issues with the beef checkoff. It appears to be long over due to give this government program a systematic overhaul that will serve the producers forced to pay into it.
Join me right back here next week for more ag news from our nations capital.
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.
