Cattle Producers of Washington Concerned Over Future of Beef Checkoff

A bill introduced in Washington’s legislature would have raised the beef checkoff from $1 to $2.

President of the Cattle Producers of Washington Scott Nielsen testified against the bill in Olympia says this would be a huge detriment to the cow-calf sector.

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“They need to look at it a little bit different way to fund the Beef Commission. To me, the best way to do it is to assess the cattle at slaughter. That would be getting the packers paying into the Beef Commission and to me that’s the way they should be doing it.”

Nielsen says it’s unfair to put the additional costs to fund the Beef Commission on the backs of a struggling industry.

A recent report, according to Neilsen, shows that the cow-calf industry has been successful in bringing in out of state animals to be slaughtered which is circumventing the checkoff.

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“It just amazes me that everybody is ok with putting more piece on the cow-calf guy, and it’s like it doesn’t even occur to them that this might be harmful to them but they’re real protective of the packer sector.”

The bill does not appear to be up for a vote in either chamber this year, but Nielsen feels that this will continue to come up until it passes.

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