In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays continues his conversation with Greg Hanes, Chief Executive Officer of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion Board, who says tighter cattle supplies are forcing the industry to get more strategic with every checkoff dollar.
Stretching Checkoff Dollars in a Tight Cycle
With the U.S. beef cow herd sitting at a 75-year low, Hanes says fewer cattle means fewer dollars flowing into the checkoff program—and that’s creating real challenges.
“Yeah, that’s a huge challenge for us,” Hanes said. “As you know, the checkoff has been around for 40 years. It was $1 40 years ago, and it’s still $1, and so we’ve lost that impact just from inflation.”
On top of that, reduced cattle numbers are tightening collections even further. “With lower cattle numbers, actual dollars coming in are also impacted,” he explained. “So when we were having a little better cycle, collecting more, we were able to actually manage that so that we can kind of spread that out over multiple years.”
That planning is now helping sustain programs. “As collections are tighter, I think we’re going to be able to release some of that and keep those programs at a fairly steady level, at least for the next few years,” Hanes said. “And then hopefully we’re coming out of it and kind of building back up again over time.”
He adds that outside factors are also affecting revenue streams. “Even now you have the southern border closed because of screwworms, so those dollars that used to come in from imported cattle… aren’t coming in now.”
Technology Helps Do More with Less
Despite the financial pressure, Hanes says technology is helping the Beef Board stay effective—even with fewer resources.
“One of the positive things though is that with the technology that we have now, we’re also able to be a lot more efficient and very targeted in some of these activities and programs,” he said. “So we can still do a lot of these with less money and be as effective.”
Digital marketing in particular has become a powerful tool. “We can pinpoint the specific type of consumer… at a location where they’re buying or purchasing the product, and they see those messages,” Hanes said. “That can actually have a very positive impact—and again, very targeted, which is much more cost effective.”
That includes reaching consumers at the point of purchase. “They can be walking toward a supermarket… and suddenly they’ve had that message that comes in, ‘hey, check out this recipe,’” he said. “The consumers are seeing, this is easy to prepare, this is nutritious, and then they can buy it right there on the spot.”
Communicating Value Back to Producers
One ongoing challenge is helping cattle producers understand where their checkoff dollars are going—since they aren’t the target audience for promotions.
“We’re not targeting cattle ranchers or producers, because we’re assuming that they love eating beef anyway,” Hanes said. “So they’re not going to see those messages when they go to the store.”
That can lead to misunderstandings. “We hear things like, ‘well, I don’t see anything… what’s the checkoff doing?’ Well, they’re not the target,” he explained.
To bridge that gap, Hanes encourages producers to stay informed through available resources. “We’ve got the Drive newsletter that anyone can sign up for… it really gives you great updates on the different programs, items that are happening, and the impacts that they have,” he said.
Looking Ahead to the Next Funding Cycle
Even in the middle of the current fiscal year, planning is already underway for the next round of checkoff investments.
“We’re going to be putting out notice for proposals… probably in the next month or so,” Hanes said. “Those will go out to the contractors. They’ll be building these programs and submitting those.”
From there, the process becomes highly competitive. “They’ll all be reviewed by our producer committees then we’ll go in for the funding request session in September, where the operating committee will actually make those funding decisions.”
And demand for funding always exceeds supply. “Typically, we have maybe 37, 38 million to allocate to programs. We’ll have 10, 12, 13 million more in requests,” Hanes said. “So we’re definitely not able to fund all these programs.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR above for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
