Moran: USDA is ‘ignoring’ cattle producers

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said the administration should listen to cattle producers and rethink creating a new beef check-off program to promote and research beef consumption.

“Cattlemen have been loud and clear in their objections to a new beef checkoff,” Moran said. “I am deeply concerned that USDA is ignoring the voices of producers.”

{mosads}Moran’s comments came after he sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The senator told Vilsack that the current beef check-off program is superior to the new proposal because it allows more “grassroots involvement.” 

“I believe changes to the checkoff should be supported by producers, and not forced upon them by the federal government,” Moran said Monday.

The USDA has proposed that both check-off programs could act simultaneously, but Moran wrote that it “would add administrative expenses and red tape to the current successful system.”

Moran cited a Cornell University study that found the current check-off program provides an $11 return to the beef industry for every $1 invested.