By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

A recent economic study found that U.S. cattle producers get back $13.41 for each dollar invested in the national beef checkoff program.

The independent study, which was conducted by Dr. Harry Kaiser of Cornell University, reviewed the checkoff’s performance over the last five years—2019 to 2023. It measured the effectiveness and direct and indirect benefits of the checkoff’s demand-driving activities.

“The beef checkoff’s primary goal is to increase beef demand here in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Cheryl DeVuyst, chair of the Beef Checkoff Evaluation Committee and current secretary-treasurer of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. “The statistics uncovered by this study tell us that we’re achieving that goal and providing producers and importers with an excellent return on their national checkoff investments.”

Domestic demand for beef increased by 8.5%, while demand for U.S. beef exports increased by 11.5%. The direct impact to the industry was found to be $3.3 billion in total revenue.

The study showed the added revenue also helped increase the number of jobs and income.

“The study found that the checkoff increases U.S. employment by almost 47,000 people and U.S. employment income by $2.1 billion,” said Ryan Moorhouse, vice chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and general manager of Hartley Feeders.

The total value added to the U.S. economy was $4.1 billion.

The national beef checkoff contributed to increased tax revenue at the federal, state and local levels, amounting to a total of $743 million in 2023. Moorhouse noted of the total, $34 million is in county tax revenue, $205 million in state tax revenue and $504 million in federal tax revenue.

The study also showed without the national beef checkoff and the investments, the decrease in total domestic beef demand and steer prices and export demand would be lower.

“What we’ve seen is the percent increase with the programs we’ve done over the years has really, really driven the quality of the product and that passes down to the quality of the cattle people produce,” Moorhouse told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.

The checkoff uses the results to improve the program, overall production and demand for beef across the U.S.

“We feel like with the study’s results that we’re doing something right,” he said. “I think the programs have been working, especially on the demand side, both foreign and domestically. We are moving forward with these programs and making them better, making the research programs better, making the consumer promotions programs better, and overall, just tweaking the programs and making them even more detailed and targeted to what we’re trying to do.”

Moorhouse said their priority is making smart decisions with the producers’ dollars to benefit them and increase demand for beef.

Click here to view the study’s results.

For more information about the beef checkoff, visit beefboard.org/checkoff.