Beef Checkoff Questions And Answers
About ‘Developing Export Markets’
1) A few years ago we lost many of our export markets because of BSE here in the United States. Is the checkoff doing anything about getting these markets back?
While we can’t use checkoff dollars to lobby to solve access issues, checkoff dollars are leveraged with USDA Foreign Agricultural Service market development funds to help rebuild consumer confidence and promote U.S. beef in more than 80 countries. Last year, beef and beef variety meat exports increased 18 percent to 771,196 metric tons (about 1.7 billion pounds) and 28 percent in value to $2.617 billion. This still leaves us short of what we exported in 2003, when all markets were open, but we continue to make good progress.
2) How do I know that my checkoff dollars are promoting U.S. beef in other countries?
Both the Cattlemen's Beef Board and USDA Foreign Agricultural Service insist their funding promote U.S. beef in foreign markets and evaluate every program they invest in to assure that is happening.
[FYI - “U.S.” as a point of origin is usually defined by custom and through international treaties as the last point of substantial change. So, a Mexican six-weight, finished in a U.S. feedlot and harvested in a U.S. plant is ‘U.S. beef.’ Since BSE, however, some agreements with foreign markets have stipulated that animals/beef cannot originate in Canada. Thus, a Canadian feeder must be tagged and its meat cannot be shipped to these destinations.]
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.