Checkoffs Valuable for the Industry

Have you ever heard one of these slogans?

“Pork, the other white meat. Cotton, the fabric of our lives. Avocado, love one today. Beef, it’s what’s for dinner. And the incredible edible egg.”

Dana Coale with the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service says they are created and paid for by producers of those commodities through checkoff programs.

“These checkoff programs are research and promotion based programs that are solely funded by industry assessments.”

The first checkoff was for the cotton industry in 1966. Since then 22 such programs have been created for everything from milk and Christmas trees to popcorn and peanuts with Congress considering a 23^rd for the organic industry.