WASHINGTON, DC – The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service is adjusting membership on the Beef Promotion and Research Board that is responsible for administering the collection of the Beef Checkoff and funding of checkoff programs.
Changes reflect shifts in cattle inventory levels since the last board reapportionment in 2017.
These adjustments are based on requirements of the Beef Promotion and Research Order, authorized by the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985. The order provides for a review of geographic distribution of U.S. cattle inventories and the volume of imported cattle, beef and beef products at least every three years but not more than every two years. After the review, board membership must be reapportioned accordingly.
A state or unit must have an inventory of 500,000 head of cattle to be represented on the board and is entitled to an additional member for each additional 1 million head of cattle. In considering reapportionment, the board reviewed cattle inventories and cattle, beef and beef product import data from 2017 through 2019.
The total board membership would increase by two members, from 99 to 101, and include the following changes:
– Domestic cattle producer representation on the board shall increase from 92 to 94 members.
– The states of Nebraska, Texas and Wisconsin will each gain one member.
– The Southeast Unit, made up of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, shall be dissolved.
– Alabama and Georgia shall become stand-alone states due to each having enough inventory to qualify for a position on the board.
– South Carolina shall be added to the Mid-Atlantic Unit, which would then consist of South Carolina and West Virginia, and would qualify for one member.
– Maryland will move from the Mid-Atlantic Unit to the Northeast Unit, which shall then consist of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont, and qualify for one member.
The revised representation will be effective with nominations in 2020 for appointments effective early in 2021.
The final rule for this action was published in the Federal Register on July 1, 2020, with an effective date of July 31, 2020.
