Meatingplace.com
by Hillary Proctor

The Beef Promotion Operating Committee has approved the 30 national checkoff programs to be funded by the $42.3 million budget for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009.

The budget is up slightly from $41.7 million in Fiscal Year 2009, thanks to higher checkoff revenue than expected and unspent administration funds. The Operating Committee, composed of 10 members of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and 10 producers from State Beef Councils, aimed to design a plan of research, information programs and work funds promotion that would build demand for beef. The USDA still must sign off on the plan before funds can be used.

Approved checkoff programs include:

• About $18.5 million for promotion, which encompasses advertising, retail and food service marketing and new product/culinary initiatives, as well as a Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative and veal marketing.
• Nearly $6.2 million for research projects, exploring beef safety, product enhancement, human nutrition, beef markets and more.
• More than $4.8 million for consumer information programs, including the Northeast initiative, national consumer public relations, National Beef Cook-Off public relationships, and nutrition-influencer relations.
• About $3 million for industry information projects, which covers the National Beef Ambassador Program, beef and dairy-beef quality assurance programs, and dissemination of accurate information about the beef industry to dispel misinformation from other groups.
• Nearly $5.3 million for foreign marketing and education about U.S. beef in the Caribbean, Central and South American, the Dominican Republic, Europe, the Middle East, Greater China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
• $1.8 million for producer communications and outreach, emphasizing the checkoff’s Beef Quality Assurance and Issues and Reputation Management programs.

Other miscellaneous costs include evaluation of checkoff programs, program development, USDA oversights and administration, totaling nearly $3 million.