Ranchers oppose checkoff increase

Friday, January 18, 2008 5:13 PM CST

We appreciate Ag Weekly and the helpful information we gain from it.

I would like to comment on an article about cattle in the January 5th issue.

We are a ranching family and are not aware of any cattle producers who favor an increase in the checkoff tax, a portion of which is used to advertise beef, including foreign imports with consumers unable to differentiate between imported and our USA beef produced under USA standards and regulations, because the majority of our elected officials have opposed the implementation of the Mandatory Country of Origin Law as passed with the 2002 Farm Bill. We also have other concerns as to the direction our checkoff dollars are funneled.

If everything crossing our USA borders had been labeled as to country of origin through to the consumer, could we not reason that all else would have to have been born, fed, raised and processed in the USA and worthy of being labeled as a product of the USA with no expense to the producer. Is it not the responsibility of the US government to protect our nation, our producers and consumers?

We and our organizations, which put the USA, our country’s producers and consumers first could advertise our US beef if foreign imports were labeled and separated from USA produced beef. This is how I see it.

Sincerely,

Carol Whittaker

Leadore, Idaho

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