Have you ever seen a beef commercial? The type that end with, “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner”. Have you ever stopped and wondered who paid for that commercial? After all, cows don’t have money!
We did. Cattle Farmers and Ranchers throughout the U.S.
The beef commercials on TV and social media are part of the “Beef Checkoff Program.” This program is identified by a red (or white) checkmark. You’ve maybe seen the logo before and didn’t think twice about it.
That checkmark is more than just a logo. It’s the symbol of the Beef Checkoff Program. Cattle farmers and ranchers fund the program in order to educate consumers about beef.
Here’s how the Checkoff Program works:
Whenever we sell any of our cattle, $1.00 from each animal is deducted and sent to the National Checkoff Board, which is overseen by elected cattlemen from across the United States. The money is invested in marketing promotion, research, consumer information and other communication programs. From the $1.00, $0.50 is designated for national marketing and research programs, and $0.50 stays here in Missouri for our State Checkoff program that supports marketing and research programs in the State of Missouri.
This program does slightly reduce our farm’s profit per head of cattle that we sell, but it has a tremendous long term benefit for us.
If this program didn’t exist, it would be up to every individual farmer or beef processing house to advertise their beef. Stop and think about that for a second — how could a small farmer create a beef commercial and afford a national advertising campaign? They can’t. It’s too expensive.
Thanks to the Beef Checkoff Program, cattle farmers’ $1.00 contributions are pooled together to create a marketing budget that’s big enough to do national advertising and education. What that means for you, the consumer, is that you occasionally see beef commercials. The goal with the ads is the same goal any advertiser has – we want you to remember all of the amazing benefits of beef from it being a nutritional powerhouse to it’s A-MAZING taste.
Beef Commercial:
Have a question about beef or our farm? Let us know or here are the answers to some of the most popular beef questions we receive.
One more thing!
Do you want to learn more about beef? Here are a few other beef posts and recipes you may like. Plus, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a farmers perspective.
