Dive Brief:
- Proposed legislation supported by Hampton Creek, the Good Food Institute and others, looks to bring reform to big agricultural groups and ensure they are more closely watched, according to Quartz.
- Several pseudo-government boards, including those for beef, pork and eggs, each control a pool of money directed at promoting their corresponding products. Funding from these campaigns — run by what's known as checkoff programs — comes from the producers themselves who are required to contribute to the programs, according to an article in Feedstuffs.
- If the legislation passes, checkoff programs will not be mandatory and must make their budgets and allocations public.
Dive Insight:
While checkoff programs receive a lot of funds from farmers and producers, there’s no system in place that accurately reports where the money is going, and many argue that needs to change.
The money collected by checkoff programs is supposed to be used to promote and market agricultural goods, but numerous allegations through the years have claimed some funds have been used illegally to influence policy and undermine other food products. Just one example is the U.S. Department of Agriculture finding that the American Egg Board commissioning of pro-egg ads to appear alongside online searches for Hampton Creek's vegan mayonnaise was inappropriate.
Considering the bill has supporters on both side of the aisle, the legislation may pass, even though Trump’s administration has not shown a great deal of support to agricultural businesses as of yet. When President Trump named Sonny Perdue as a last-minute USDA nominee, it called into question the importance that Trump's administration places on the food and agriculture sectors. Perdue's nomination was cleared Thursday to head to the Senate floor.
Checkoffs are barred from lobbying Congress, though some programs, including those for beef and pork, have contracted with lobbying groups.
Although this legislation is bipartisan, checkoff programs are relatively strong. Last year, the House Appropriations Committee included a provision in the USDA budget to protect the programs from public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act. Currently, there is movement in USDA to establish a new checkoff program for the organic industry.