68 Farm Groups Support Checkoff Reform Bill Reintroduction
The bipartisan Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act would support America’s farmers and ranchers by bringing transparency and accountability to USDA’s commodity checkoff programs.
The bipartisan Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act would support America’s farmers and ranchers by bringing transparency and accountability to USDA’s commodity checkoff programs.
The incident clearly illustrates why checkoff money shouldn’t go to any groups that lobby on agriculture policy, said Farm Action Fund’s Joe Maxwell.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers support the OFF Act, which would restore transparency and accountability to checkoff programs.
NCBA purports to be the voice of the cattle industry even as they lobby for meatpackers. Less than 3% of cattle ranchers in the U.S. are members of NCBA.
Farm Action Fund’s Angela Huffman says the way to reform these corrupt programs is by including the OFF Act in the upcoming farm bill.
Checkoff reform opponents are “brazenly omitting their shared conflict of interest: [they] are all recipients of checkoff funds,” says Farm Action Fund’s Angela Huffman.
Weighing in on the heated checkoff reform debate, Farm Action Fund’s Angela Huffman called out opponents for not disclosing their conflicts of interest.
Farm Action Fund called into question checkoff return on investment (ROI) evaluations cited by a recently introduced congressional resolution in support of checkoff programs.
A large coalition of farmers and advocates sent a letter to the Congressional Ag Committees in response to corporate industry groups’ opposition to the OFF Act.
Farmers’ dollars are being “funneled through the government and into the hands of trade and lobbying groups,” said Farm Action Fund’s Angela Huffman.
The OFF Act would restore integrity and transparency to an out-of-control government program. Farm Action Fund, R-CALF, and a powerful coalition called on Congress to include it in the farm bill.