ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Beef Promotion Operating Committee recommended a $41.5 million Cattlemen’s Beef Board budget for fiscal 2010, reflecting a slight decrease from 2009 but down more than 15 percent from 2008.
The budget includes:
— $18.1 million for promotion, including advertising, foodservice, retail and veal promotion, and new-product development.
— $6.2 million for research programs, including beef safety, product enhancement, nutrition research, and market research.
— $4.7 million for consumer information programs, which includes consumer public relations and information, and outreach to nutrition influencers.
— $2.9 million for industry information programs, including beef and veal quality assurance and issues management.
— $5.3 million for foreign marketing, including promotion and public-relations programs around the globe.
— $1.8 million for producer communications, including trade advertising, media relations, and direct communications to producers about the results of their checkoff investments.
— $220,000 for evaluation of checkoff programs and $130,000 for program development.
— $2 million for administration, including costs for Board meetings, legal fees, travel costs, office rental, supplies, equipment, and administrative staff compensation.
Approval
The beef board’s executive committee also ratified the operating committee’s budget recommendation.
In the coming stages of the Fiscal Year 2010 budgeting process, the full Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, will be asked to approve this budget at its meeting in Denver in July.
Joint industry advisory committees and subcommittees also will meet in Denver to prepare recommendations for specific program proposals to be funded with that budget.
These proposals will be considered by the operating committee in September, before the Oct. 1 beginning of the fiscal year, and must finally be approved by USDA before any checkoff dollars may be spent.
Funds from the Beef Board for national checkoff programs will be augmented by about $4.8 million in voluntary contributions from state beef councils to their national Federation of State Beef Councils.
