On July 15, 2016, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) issued a proposed rule that seeks to provide beef producers in certain states the option of “redirecting” to the United Soybean Board the full, federally-required assessment of one dollar per head sold.  Redirection deprives a state’s Qualified State Beef Council of funding it would have otherwise retained and expended in accordance with the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985 (Beef Act) and accompanying regulations – the Beef Act and Beef Promotion and Research Order (Beef Order).

In a new article, Beef Checkoff Dollars & USDA “Redirection”: Compatible with Federal Law?, Harrison Pittman, Director of the National Agricultural Law Center, discusses AMS’s existing policy of “redirection”, the AMS proposed rule, and how redirection appears to be incompatible with the plain language of the Beef Act and Order.  Download the article here.