Separating The Federation And NCBA?
US - The Federation of State Beef Councils would continue to be a strong checkoff entity but would be free from the influence of any policy organisation if it was a separate entity from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), recommends the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB).
25 June 2010
2 minute read
Acting on concerns expressed by industry organisations and the expectations of the Federation included in US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s May 17 letter to NCBA, the CBB Executive Committee on June 22 unanimously approved a motion recommending separation of the Federation and NCBA. The motion states:
“The Federation should be a strong, independent, checkoff entity. The Federation should be separate from any policy organisation, since all funds for the checkoff come from mandatory assessments of producers and importers. The checkoff is owned by, and responsible to, all producers and importers, and no specific organisation. It is not the intent of the Executive Committee that this motion has any effect on the structure of state beef councils.”
“This recommendation by no means undermines the role of the Federation as a full partner in checkoff activities,” said Executive Committee Chairman Tom Jones, a producer in Arkansas. “The Federation division of NCBA does a tremendous job at managing national checkoff programmes.
“We are in no way calling into question the quality of work produced, but because of increased input from industry organisations about the structure of the Federation as a division of a membership organisation, we believe the Federation of State Beef Councils should exist independently,” Mr Jones continued. “As NCBA looks at restructuring its organisation, we believe a stronger Federation should be the cornerstone to any changes.”
The recommendation has been forwarded to NCBA leadership and to USDA for consideration.
TheCattleSite News Desk
