Stallman expects Vilsack questionnaire on beef checkoff next week
November 05, 2014 | 10:41 AM
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to distribute a questionnaire on what beef producers would want in a new checkoff program next week, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman told reporters Tuesday.
Stallman has been part of a group trying to make changes in the beef checkoff and reach consensus on raising its $1 fee to produce more income for beef research and promotion. But the group has not reached any agreement, and Vilsack said he might propose a second checkoff using authority under a different law than the one that established the current checkoff.
“The solution is for all elements of the beef industry to get together and achieve a consensus,” Vilsack said, but “we haven’t achieved that solution yet.”
Dale Moore, a Farm Bureau official who served as USDA chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration, said that he did not know whether USDA will use the Federal Register process to distribute that questionnaire, but that he is certain Vilsack will handle it in a way to avoid ending up in court.
Vilsack has said before that there would be a comment period on a new checkoff, and the use of the comment period would mean that the Federal Register process would be used.
Stallman has been part of a group trying to make changes in the beef checkoff and reach consensus on raising its $1 fee to produce more income for beef research and promotion. But the group has not reached any agreement, and Vilsack said he might propose a second checkoff using authority under a different law than the one that established the current checkoff.
“The solution is for all elements of the beef industry to get together and achieve a consensus,” Vilsack said, but “we haven’t achieved that solution yet.”
Dale Moore, a Farm Bureau official who served as USDA chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration, said that he did not know whether USDA will use the Federal Register process to distribute that questionnaire, but that he is certain Vilsack will handle it in a way to avoid ending up in court.
Vilsack has said before that there would be a comment period on a new checkoff, and the use of the comment period would mean that the Federal Register process would be used.
