The Beef Promotion Operating Committee (BPOC) has approved investment of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) fiscal year 2010 budget of $42.3 million on a total of 30 national checkoff programs. Funded are promotion, research and information programs designed to build demand for beef using national checkoff funds.

The BPOC, which consists of 10 producer members of the CBB and 10 producer representatives from state beef councils, had to balance the industry’s requests for funding against anticipated checkoff collections for FY 2010. USDA still must approve the plan before any funds can be expended.

The approved programs include:

• $18.5 million for promotion, including consumer advertising, retail marketing, foodservice marketing, new product and culinary initiatives, a Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative to build demand in densely populated Northeast states, and veal marketing and communications.
  
• $6.2 million for research projects, including beef safety, product enhancement, human nutrition and market research.
  
• $4.8 million for consumer information programs, including a Northeast public relations initiative, national consumer public relations, public relations for the September 2009 National Beef Cook-Off and nutrition-influencer relations.
  
• $3 million for industry information projects, including the National Beef Ambassador Program, beef quality assurance programs for beef and dairy, and dissemination of accurate information about the beef industry to counter misinformation from anti-beef groups and others.
  
• $5.3 million for foreign marketing and education efforts about U.S. beef in the ASEAN region, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Dominican Republic, Europe, the Middle East, Greater China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan.
  
• $1.8 million in CBB dollars for producer communications, which includes producer outreach using paid media, earned media, direct communications and work through livestock markets and state beef councils. BPOC asked that producer communications emphasize the checkoff’s Beef Quality Assurance and Issues and Reputation Management programs.
  
• Other costs to operate the national checkoff program in FY 2010 include $220,000 for evaluation of checkoff programs; $130,000 for program development; $255,000 for USDA oversight; and $2.1 million for administration, which includes costs for all CBB and committee meetings, as well as office rental, supplies and equipment and salaries.
  
• A separate $4.7 million in allocations from the Federation of State Beef Councils will further increase checkoff funding of national programs in promotion, research, consumer information, industry information and foreign marketing.

Contractors whose program proposals were funded include the American National CattleWomen, CBB, the Meat Importers Council of America, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

BPOC-authorized programs must be approved by USDA. Each contractor works on a cost-recovery basis and, by law, cannot profit from work they do on behalf of the CBB and state beef councils. Each contractor is subject to CBB and USDA audits on an ongoing basis.
-- CBB news release