Cattle producers say no to additional beef checkoff fee

A legal challenge to an unsuccessful referendum that asked cattle producers to double a $1 per-head assessment on cattle sales inside the state won’t proceed if the vote results are certified.

An attorney representing four cattle producers objecting to the referendum said Thursday his clients no longer would have a legal standing to challenge the issue since the money would not be collected.

Federal law already requires Oklahoma producers to pay a $1 checkoff on every head of cattle they sell.

After money is transferred to other states that produce cattle sold in Oklahoma markets, half of what is left goes to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, a national organization that seeks to promote beef consumption through advertising, marketing and through product research and development.

The remainder — the 2018 amount is budgeted at $1.27 million — is retained by the Oklahoma Beef Council to undertake the same tasks for beef producers on a more local level. The proposed additional $1 fee would have been retained entirely by the state organization to support and expand its programs.

On Thursday, Oklahoma Agriculture Secretary Jim Reese announced cattle producers who participated in the referendum rejected the proposal by a vote of 2,506 to 1,998, according to an independent auditor that tabulated the results.

Reese also said the results still must be certified by his agency in a process he expects will take about a week to complete.

The attorney representing the challengers, Brian T. Jones, said he doesn't expect the certification process will change the election's outcome.

Jones said he wouldn't speculate why a majority of producers rejected the referendum. However, its likely some shared concerns with plaintiffs he represented about how the election was set up by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

And, although not part of the court challenge, at least one of the plaintiffs also expressed concerns about an embezzlement case involving a former employee of the Oklahoma Beef Council and said there needed to be improved oversight of the organization to ensure future accountability for those funds.

That former employee, Melissa Day Morton, of Edmond, has pleaded guilty to federal charges in the embezzlement of more than $2.6 million from the organization over a seven-year period. On Thursday, a sentencing hearing for Morton still had not yet been set.

The Oklahoma Beef Council, meanwhile, obtained a civil judgment against Morton for the full amount she embezzled earlier this year, and its officials have said that they intend to collect as much of it as they can.

Council officials also have said the council has improved its accounting practices and hired a third-party firm to handle its books.

Reactions, blames aired

Officials with the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, the organization that petitioned the state Agriculture Department to hold the referendum, expressed disappointment Thursday the measure had failed.

They also blamed the U.S. Humane Society and other groups from outside of Oklahoma for stoking opposition to the proposal.

“As a rancher, I face challenges every day,” said Weston Givens, a rancher who leads the association. “Unfortunately, those daily challenges are nothing compared to the growing challenges that our industry faces such as aggressive anti-meat activist groups trying to remove beef from the menu, and misleading claims about food safety and animal care.”

His comments were echoed by Michael Kelsey, the association's vice president.

"This is an unfortunate loss for the beef industry here in Oklahoma," Kelsey said. "Investing in a state-level beef checkoff would have greatly increased the opportunities to market, promote and educate consumers about beef and beef producers.

"We ran a good campaign that worked hard to reach out and educate beef producers, but ultimately we were defeated today by the same outof-state activists that defeated State Question 777 last fall.”

The Humane Society of the United States, an organization that opposed the referendum, said its point of view was that the additional checkoff would have taken money from farmers and ranchers to fund big agriculture operations.

"We are pleased to see this referendum fail, and are grateful that the good people of Oklahoma chose to defeat the interests of factory farming," said Will Harris, a member of the society's National Agriculture Advisory Council.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, a supporter of the checkoff proposal, said Thursday a similar measure approved by producers in its state provided an "immense benefit" equating to a more than $11 return for each additional dollar collected.

Richard Thorpe, president of the Texas organization, said he was disappointed a majority of Oklahoma cattle producers voted the measure down.

But his remarks also seemed to suggest another effort should be made to obtain approval of the proposal.

"It is hard to dispute the incredible return on investment provided by beef checkoff programs, and I am optimistic that the facts will eventually prevail over out-of-touch activists," he stated in a news release issued after the referendum results were announced.

The Oklahoma Beef Council also issued a statement after the results were announced that expressed disappointment with the outcome.

But, "it doesn't dissuade our passion for our work," its release stated.