Texas cattle producers will have the opportunity to approve a state beef checkoff program that could generate an additional $8 million to promote beef in Texas, the U.S. and international markets. Voting begins Monday, June 2, and closes at 5 p.m. Friday, June 6, at any Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county offices across the state.
If approved, the dollar-per-head producers would pay into a state checkoff program would allow Texas producers to conduct beef promotion, marketing, research and education programs for consumers in Texas and around the globe. This dollar would supplement the national checkoff program, which producers approved in 1988. The assessment would be collected at each point of ownership transfer in Texas and would be managed by the Beef Promotion and Research Council of Texas (BPRCT).
Beef producers, regardless of age, who owned cattle in Texas between June 6, 2013 and June 6, 2014 are eligible to vote in the referendum. A producer may be either an individual or a legal business entity. Producers 16 years of age and younger must have a parent or guardian co-sign their ballots, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).
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