Media

Capital Press | Groups press USDA on dairy checkoff oversight

OCM Staff

Capital Press By Carol Ryan Dumas Nearly $427 million was collected for the dairy checkoff program in 2016. Dairy farmers are assessed 15 cents per hundredweight of milk they produce and importers are assessed 7.5 cents per hundredweight of milk (or the equivalent) they import. DON JENKINS/CAPITAL PRESS Mandatory annual reports accounting for money received and spent in connection with the federal dairy checkoff have not been filed with Congress. The Organization for Competitive Markets and the National Read More …

Des Moines Register | USDA fails to monitor foreign owners of farmland

OCM Staff

Des Moines Register By Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting A law requiring foreign investors to report transactions of farmland to the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been on the books for almost 40 years. But as the amount of foreign-controlled farmland doubled in millions of acres between 2004 and 2014, the USDA has lapsed in enforcing the law, a review of USDA documents has found. The Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act was passed in 1978 to combat fears Read More …

A New $1 Cow Tax in Oklahoma: Good Money After Bad

OCM Staff

A Word on Farm Law and Policy By Harlan Hentges Edmond, Oklahoma A $1.00 tax is imposed every time cattle are sold. This is the “Beef Checkoff” imposed by federal law. Oklahoma ranchers pay about $3 million per year. Half goes to the Oklahoma Beef Council (OBC), and half goes to the national Cattlemen’s Beef Board. OBC says the money is used to make “a positive difference for Oklahoma’s farming and ranching families” and for “strengthening consumer trust.” Read More …

Brownfield Ag News | OCM CRITICAL OF USDA’S LACK OF DAIRY CHECKOFF REPORTS

OCM Staff

OCM CRITICAL OF USDA’S LACK OF DAIRY CHECKOFF REPORTS Brownfield Ag News September 21, 2017 By Larry Lee Filed Under: Dairy, News, USDA A marketing watchdog group claims the USDA has failed to properly oversee the dairy checkoff program. Angela Huffman with the Organization for Competitive Markets says, “We’ve seen the same thing happening in the beef checkoff, pork, eggs, and here it is now with dairy.” Huffman says federal law requires the USDA to submit a report Read More …

POLITICO | Missing USDA dairy checkoff reports renew calls for transparency

OCM Staff

POLITICO Missing USDA dairy checkoff reports renew calls for transparency By Catherine Boudreau 09/14/2017 05:01 AM EDT The Agriculture Department hasn’t published legally required annual financial reports on a $400 million dairy research and promotional fund for the past four years, lending ammunition to farmers and other groups pushing for more transparency in checkoff programs. A USDA spokeswoman told POLITICO the reports on the dairy checkoff are in the final clearance stage and should be posted within the Read More …