Appeals Court Rules Beef Checkoff Is Unconstitutional

A federal appeals court in St. Louis has ruled the beef checkoff – the one-dollar a head fee cattle producers have to pay – is unconstitutional and unenforceable. You might have heard the ad, “Beef … it’s what’s for dinner.” If the court’s ruling stands, the money collected for that promotion might not be collected from cattlemen anymore. Steve Taylor with the Missouri Beef Industry Council says this state’s producers pay in three million dollars annually. He says if the money going into promotion dries up, so will the promotion of their product. But John McBride with the Livestock Marketing Association, one of the groups opposed to the checkoff says that won’t mean the ads have to stop. McBride says it really boiled down to whether beef producers had to pay for a program that at least some felt was not being run right. Taylor points out those who don’t like the way it has been run are in the vast minority. The decision is expected to be challenged at the US Supreme Court.