Today, Farm Action Fund, along with 67 other farm organizations, supported the reintroduction of the bipartisan Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act (OFF) Act, sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Representatives Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Dina Titus (D-NV). The legislation aims to bring transparency and accountability to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) commodity checkoff programs to prevent fraud and misuse of checkoff funds.
Checkoff programs originally began as a voluntary way for farmers and ranchers to pool money for marketing and research efforts to boost overall sales. However, today’s checkoff programs bring in nearly $1 billion annually through a mandatory tax on farmers and ranchers producing milk, eggs, cattle, hogs, and more than a dozen other commodities. Decades of lax government oversight have enabled rampant misuse of checkoff funds, including the funneling of farmers’ checkoff dollars to corporate trade and lobbying organizations that often work against farmers’ interests—such as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, who relies on government checkoff dollars to make up 70% or more of their budget.
The OFF Act would prohibit checkoff programs from contracting with organizations that lobby on agricultural issues (with an exception for institutions of higher education and checkoff programs with an annual assessment of $20 million or less), require transparency through the publication of checkoff program budgets and expenditures, and require periodic audits by the USDA Inspector General.
“America’s farmers and ranchers are fed up with their hard-earned money landing in the hands of corporate lobbyists,” said Farm Action Fund President and Missouri farmer Joe Maxwell. “We face enough hurdles as it is; the last thing we need is our own dollars extracted against our will and then used to illegally lobby on behalf of the largest corporations that are already squeezing us out of the market. It’s the USDA’s job to prevent this abuse, and they continue to fail us. The OFF Act’s common-sense reforms would ensure USDA performs stringent oversight so that farmers know exactly where their money is going.”
The bill sponsors drafted this bill to address concerns from farmers and ranchers about checkoff programs’ lack of transparency and documented abuse, concerns that were echoed across the country during Farm Action Fund’s Enough is Enough Tour to reform checkoff programs. Farm Action Fund has long supported the OFF Act and continues to lead the checkoff reform movement and expose checkoff funding misuse.
Farm Action’s recent checkoff investigation, drawing from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, reinforced the urgent need for checkoff reform. The USDA is responsible for approving any use of checkoff dollars, including marketing, budgets, and programming. But Farm Action’s investigation revealed that USDA has failed to provide the level of scrutiny required to prevent checkoff funds from being misused for lobbying activities.
Informed by Farm Action’s investigation, Farm Action Fund helped to strengthen the OFF Act with the following changes for the 119th Congress:
- The definition of what organizations are covered by the OFF Act has been clarified to ensure the act covers both federal and state organizations that collect and/or receive federal checkoff funds.
- Checkoff programs with an annual assessment of $20 million or more are prohibited from contracting with any organization that lobbies on agricultural policy.
- All boards, federal and state, must provide financial information to their respective national boards on the receipt and expenditure of checkoff funds every quarter, and the national board must make this information available to the public within 30 days of receipt.
Farm Action Fund’s section-by-section summary of the OFF Act breaks down key provisions of the bill and explains why they are necessary.
Media Contact: Emma Nicolas, 202-450-0094, [email protected]S
