Federal Lawmakers Reintroduce Commodity Checkoff Reform Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Federal lawmakers reintroduced legislation today to bring much needed transparency and accountability to the federal government’s commodity checkoff programs. The Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, S. 741, was introduced by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), while Reps. Dave Brat (R-VA) and Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced companion legislation in the House, H.R. 1753. The Voluntary Checkoff Act, S. 740, was reintroduced by Senator Lee, and companion legislation, H.R. 1752, was introduced in the House by Representative Brat. The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) announced its enthusiastic support for the legislation.

This afternoon, OCM founder Fred Stokes spoke at a Congressional Briefing on Capitol Hill hosted by OCM and the Heritage Foundation to raise awareness of the checkoff programs’ abuses.

Stokes said: “The original intent of these checkoff programs was to help U.S. farmers and ranchers, but they have been hijacked by corporate interests and often times foreign corporate interests. The half-billion dollars that these programs generate each year are being used to pick winners and losers in the market. They even engage in anti-market access campaigns within the same market sector or commodity. These funds have become the cash cow for organizations that work against fair competition for family farmers.”

Checkoff programs are mandatory participation programs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These programs are funded through compulsory fees on producers of eggs, beef, pork and a multitude of other agricultural products. Lax oversight by USDA has resulted in collusive and illegal relationships between checkoff boards and lobbying organizations, both of which have repeatedly used checkoff funds to influence legislation and government action despite a broad statutory prohibition against these activities.

OCM President Mike Weaver said: “In 2005, the Supreme Court determined these are government programs, and with the commodity checkoff boards being co-opted by industrial agriculture trade organizations, family farmers’ only hope is that Congress will take action on these extremely important bills. We are fighting in the courts and getting at the truth; commodity checkoff programs need to be reformed.”

Media Contact: Angela Huffman, 614-390-7552
ahuffman@competitivemarkets.com