The Cattlemen’s Beef Board will hold its Beef Promotion Operating Committee meeting in Denver on September 6-7. The Committee consists of 20 cattle producers- ten from the beef board and ten from the federation. Jimmy Taylor, chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, said they come together to decide which projects will be funded for fiscal year 2024, which starts October 1st.
“It is going to be a little tougher this year; as we have talked before, our funding is a little less each year because of inflation,” Taylor said. “A dollar in 1985 is worth 35 cents today, so we don’t have the buying power that we had when this program first started. So, every year, we are eight to ten million dollars short on what projects we can do and what money we have available. This year, it is actually 12 million dollars that we are short.”
Taylor said being short on funding means some difficult decisions will be made, as the projects are competitive.
“We’ve got approximately $36 million to work with for programs, we’ve got $49 million in requests,” Taylor said. “So, cuts are going to have to be made. We will select the best ones, and the ones we select, they might have to pare them back a little bit to fit our budget.”
Once the Operating Committee comes up with an overall proposal, the full Beef Board will vote on approval, and then that will be forwarded to USDA for their approval to comply with the act and the order under which the Beef Checkoff operates.
